#Drache Devenir le rien
3 min read
Band: Drache
Title: Devenir le rien
Label: Transcendance
Release date: 6 October 2023
Country: Belgium
Format reviewed: High-quality Digital Recording
Here I am, listening to another Black Metal album… This time, I didn’t know the band, Drache, but it turns out to be Déhà involved in it, so I better put my ears on this, I said to myself. Let me be honest: I don’t know Déhà a lot, but I listened a while ago to a few albums from his solo band, Déhà, and if you don’t know and are curious about it: he released 31 (!!!!) albums in 5 years under this name. Which is totally mind-blowing. Sooo… I had to listen to this too. Even more when I saw it was him the only person in charge of everything too in Drache.
I really like how this album starts, all of a sudden the first song, “A la gloire de rien du tout” explodes in your ears and bam!, you are in! The tremolo riffs, the relentless drums, Déhà voice doing raspy growls and going into some anguished screams sometimes… all sounds perfect. It’s a massive attack until the end, when a short piano melody closes the song.
“La lumière radiante” follows, starting with a few noises and then the maelstrom begins; this album by Drache can sound a bit chaotic sometimes, like the recording was done in a cave, and the mix is raw on purpose of course. There’s a lot going on all the time, guitars constantly playing cold riffs while drums are exploding with blast beats and vocals screaming loud. A bit overwhelming sensation. But once I got my ears used to it, I found it special, like a liberating sensation in fact. Strange how music can make me feel sometimes. This song ends calmly, with some synth notes and an acoustic guitar, in order to compensate for the previous frenzy I think.
The third attack, “Devenir le rien” has, again, a raw starting at a bit slow pace, but this is just the first impression. When Déhà screams from the top of his lungs for the first time, there’s no turning back. 8 minutes of Black Metal rampage, and even if this can sound like nonsense, you can listen to some nice melodies that lay within the (sometimes kind of) confusion. For me, Black Metal is one of the purest arts in Metal. No matter if it’s clean produced, or raw, or atmospheric, or… It’s because of the main sound.
“A la gueule” has a very chaotic beginning, but you can manage to listen to everything separately if you make the effort and then you realize how great it sounds all together. It’s just like a very good form of chaos surrounding you, again great melodies are behind all this “noise”. There’s a female voice here at some place in the song, adding a bit of a somber effect to the melody.
“Le paradis” is another song starting with echoed synth notes and acoustic guitar, for a short time. Then, again, Déhà giving it all… this song is particularly a killer one for me, hard to explain properly, but maybe because of its variations, or it’s just because of the recognizable tunes…
And to close this 50 minute album of greatness, in which there are just six tracks but in general they are long, here comes the shortest one: “Les arbustes sont morts”. A song with folk and epic vibes. Here Déhà is not screaming or growling like possessed, he is declaiming with a hoarse and strong voice and I don’t understand the lyrics but it seems he’s telling a story… I like the guitar tunes played here, they sound like a traditional or old song. The addition of some choruses make it round, more complete.
To sum up: this album is another creation by the prolific musician Déhà, another demonstration of how brilliant a sole mind can be. And a talented person too, ‘cause he is the only one playing all the instruments and doing vocals. I take off my invisible hat to him, much respect! 9/10 Sílvia
Label
Website
Bandcamp
Instagram
Facebook
9/10 Epic Storm
**Please support the underground! It’s vital to the future of our genre**
#WeAreBlessedAltarZine
#TheZineSupportingTheUnderground
