Some things just make sense. Certain flavors naturally gravitate toward each other with very little resistance or change as the years go on and such factors become increasingly intertwined more and more over time. Metal has been no exception to such instances of such populating the entirety of the underground from its earliest years with many of them still going strong together. In black metal, a cold atmosphere combined with intensity and a good sense of old-world magic are concepts that loves to constantly crop back up even decades later with there still being loads of bands out there that are able to show us what such a combination can deliver. Never being one to turn away from such a concept, Aldaaron shows us how it’s done in exemplary fashion with their latest creation.

This, in my opinion, is one of those bands many of us, myself included, show have known about far sooner. Having long been a real entity not to be underestimated in the underground, time has only honed the excellence that Aldaaron is now throwing down with everything that was channeled into the four chapters of “Par-delà les cimes” nothing short of a tremendous experience that is never once lacking in its wintry notions and revelations made in the solitude of a mountainside. Armed with a deep knowledge of what it means to deliver such a creation as past records have dabbled in the same concepts, it would be an outright lie to say that Aldaaron has not furthered their sound with each successive album to offer something new in each creation with “Par-delà les cimes” thus far likely the band’s crowning achievement. Far more than simple riffs and generic howling, there’s real finesse and nuance in practically every given minute of the work to offer the listener a surprising experience. There isn’t a single minute throughout the whole of the performance that treads the exact same sonic territory to really allow the record to take on a life of its own that is unhindered by shortcomings or disappointments that one might encounter with black metal of this variety, but it’s at every given turn that Aldaaron proves itself to be a certifiable cut above the rest.

Where the cold is considered, black metal has more than enough acts that are able to tap into the concepts that surround such a simplistic idea, yet few are able to deliver anything close to what has been accomplished here. With surprising depth and more than enough mastery over the sound to keep you rooted in place time after time, Aldaaran does nothing but succeed with all that is “Par-delà les cimes”.

“Par-delà les cimes” releases on April 4th via Paragon Records!

LISTEN to an advanced track from “Par-delà les cimes” on Bandcamp here.

LIKE Aldaaron on Facebook here.