Demande À La Poussière – Quiétude Hostile

By RingMaster Review on April 29, 2021 • ( 0 )

It devours, consumes and corrodes all hope within; an incursion which leaves the senses numb and emotions labouring to find light yet Quiétude Hostile, the new album from Demande À La Poussière, is a spark to debilitating rapture and an experience we can only recommend.

The French outfit forge their oppressive sound through a fusion of black, doom and sludge metal. It is a hostile and enervating mix described as Apocalyptic Doom/ Post Black Metal which as proven by the Parisians self-titled debut album of 2018 is equally rich in additional raw flavours and an imposing character which alone ignites the imagination. As impressive as that first full-length was it laid the foundations to something even more compelling and ravenously expressive, Quiétude Hostile a point of no return your senses will be glad, certainly in hindsight, they succumbed to.

As a vision of a world bent on destruction, the corrosive hold of the beings it bears or the darkest depths of intimate despair, Quiétude Hostile invades every nook and cranny of the senses and psyche. From the moment album opener Léger Goût De Soufre challenges through the lone roar of vocalist/guitarist Christophe Denhez, it demanded and indeed commanded attention. An electronic hum soon surrounds his ire which in turn is aligned to lumbering riffs and antagonistically swung beats. In no time the track is crawling over the senses, the guitars of Denhez and Edgard Chevallier spinning a web of portentous intrigue and destructive intimation. That unpredictable character of the band’s music is also quickly unleashed as a tempest erupts, it the breeding ground for further drama and ruinous implication.

It is a fine start to the release which Morphème continues through its own mercurial landscape. Dark calm colludes with a feral animus as the track breathes its Stygian air across the senses, every second either bearing intimidating tranquillity or hellacious corrosion and each proving deeply compelling. The track is as bewitching as it is aurally uncomfortable just as its successor Éréthisme, which from its first aberrant touch is fingering the senses and devouring any chance of respite from its carnal trespass. Cored by the increasingly addictive persecution of drummer Vincent Baglin’s swings and the infernal basslines of Neil Leveugle, the track left a whimper and declaration of likely favourite track in its wake.

The album’s outstanding title track is another which relentlessly twist and turns in all aspects as it lays wastes to all before it, simultaneously creating a hell as addictive as it is decaying while the following Perdu, which features Jiu Gebenholtz on contrabass, provides an escape from the torment within its predominately instrumental soundscape yet is as dark, intimidating and menacingly haunting as anything around it. Both tracks held court over ears and appetite with menace and craft, each hungrily adding to the thick captivation of the album so far.

Through Bois De Justice and its hellish claustrophobic scenery of suggestion and the intense tumult of L’Oubli Du Contrasté, it is fair to say that pleasure was further stoked and with a hellacious creative hand. The second of the two is another major highlight in the album’s lofty landscape, from the crepuscular beauty of Leveugle’s acoustic guitar and the tenebrific atmosphere which wraps it to the cyclone of gloom and destruction which erupts, the track consumed and beguiled.

The album’s closing track sees the sax of Dima (White Ward) guesting, Expiravit slowly rising like a leviathan upon sonic lures and sighs, all melancholy soaked. With the grievous snarl of his bass, Leveugle sparks the subsequent tapestry of temptation and commination, the beast now gaining full height and animosity as intensity fuels every aspect of its animus and captivation. Never allowing a moment for the imagination and emotions to settle, the sax of Timo an irresistible candle within the leaden squall and oppressive confrontation, the track is a glorious end to the release stealing that favourite moment choice at the last moment.

Quiétude Hostile is an invasion and annihilation which will be an emprise too far for many but face its tempest and the challenge it makes upon your own thoughts and emotions and we can confirm the rewards and pleasure are far more invasive.

Quiétude Hostile is out now via My Kingdom Music; available @ https://dalpband.bandcamp.com/album/qui-tude-hostile