The sound of black metal has always been one that has always been dependent on the setting of the music to really set the tone for the ensuing chaos. Many go for a forest setting, others space, and more go for more occult locations to bring out special flavors from the metal to create something both dark and sinister. I’ve never really seen a group of the style go for an urban tone, yet that’s exactly what Quebec’s Precipices did and it definitely seems like something that has plenty of potential.

From the very onset of this debut EP, the duo of Precipices, with one man doing the instruments and another on vocals, we’re given a vision of the modern concrete jungle that then eventually swaps to a vicious onslaught of black metal that is why tasty down to the very pacing of the four tracks that “La Pénombre de L’agir” has to offer. Yet very quickly we notice that the overall tone that Precipices is going for here is a slightly melancholic one, and while I cannot say I understand a fucking lick of French I have a feeling that these gentlemen on to portray a very wasteful and draining visage of what it means to live in a modern city where it’s an endless, demoralizing cycle. Quite fitting for black metal in the end, wouldn’t you agree? Because of that, “La Pénombre de L’agir” has an interesting flair to it that really draws you in then once you’re front and center you’re treated to brilliant instrumentation, an excellent display of cold-hearted black metal that Canadians are experts at delivering, and vocals that can only be considered immaculate as well as a perfect fit for what Precipices pulls off wondrously so. While the lyrics would’ve been lost on me even if they were in English, I can’t help but feel they play a more than an integral part to “La Pénombre de L’agir” from having both meaning to having an incredible influence to the melancholic feel that this EP has, yet I’m perfectly fine with them being as illegible as any black metal voice despite the language barrier.

It’s like I’ve always felt about black metal: the more time that passes the more bands come along that keep taking the style to different horizons meant for different audiences. Precipices is one such group as they’ve seemingly managed to take the claustrophobic realm of an urban landscape and transformed it into an equally claustrophobic album that shows this Canadian duo has a world of possibility before them after a debut such as this. Albeit not having much to call its own, “La Pénombre de L’agir” is an interesting EP of many sorts that shown definite promise and can be undoubtedly built upon to allow Precipices to attain a niche corner of black metal, and I’d be more than happy to become a part of that niche.

LISTEN to “La Pénombre de L’agir” on Bandcamp here.

LIKE Precipices on Facebook here.