Where death and black metal intersect, terrible things are wrought. It’s the sort of combination that nowadays is obvious given what both sounds can offer each other when brought forth in a dichotomous creation, but any performance still requires tact and finesse lest the potential of such a piece slip through the jaws of victory. Such darkness can be quite captivating when crafted by hands that know precisely what they’re doing. The underground is well populated with qualifying names, but there are only a few that are able to truly channel that the combination of menace and terror can offer. With their second album, Viande does much more than accomplish an oppressive sense of dread.
It’s one thing to make an impressive entrance. That’s something that so many bands throughout the underground dream of accomplishing as such a feat sets the tone for all that comes afterward, even several years down the line. When Viande released their first album four years ago, it would be an understatement to say that their caustic brand of death and black metal was something born of only the darkest nightmares. The concept of a follow-up is something many of us have impatiently waiting for, and, fortunately, it’s with the arrival of “Monument aux morts” that Viande demonstrates its chops not just as a band that’s not to be trifled with, but one that’s the real deal. For everything delivered in these nine haunting tracks, we bear witness to a vision of the genre that’s as uncompromising in its approach as it is unyielding in its ferocious execution. Piecing apart the flesh with diabolical riffs, rooting you in place through raw fear with its terrifying atmosphere, and displaying nothing short of an overwhelming power that sees the dead rise at the whim of Viande, this sophomore effort is undeath made manifest in aural form. There’s nothing glorious or even right about what’s put forth throughout “Monument aux morts”. This album is constantly seeking the very light of your soul without a care for the corruption, destruction, or cataclysms that occur in its wake.
The sort of off-putting, sinister creation of the darkest corners the underground has to offer, Viande once again strikes true! Nothing is held back in the delivery of this piece with the end result no less than an undeniable triumph of the dead and its malefic allies. “Monument aux morts” more than lives up to its name along every grueling step of this runtime with it more than cementing Viande as a force of the underground not to be underestimated.
“Monument aux morts” releases on July 31st via Transcending Obscurity Records!
LISTEN to advanced tracks from “Monument aux morts” on Bandcamp here.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejhiTFVHEsI