ALBUM REVIEW: Viande – Monument Aux Morts

French black/death/doom metal tyrants Viande return with their second album of suffocating savagery. Set for release via Transcending Obscurity Records on 31 July.

A short introduction keeps suspense before malevolent riffs come into life with a crushing tone and hard drumming to match. The dissonance and grooves flow like molten putrescence with this ferociously heavy production allowing the filth to be felt in your very being as the instruments contort beneath some resplendently wicked vocal delivery. This is pugnacious, horrible music… in the best way! Taking some of the blackened death cues of bands like Teitanblood and Black Curse but with some industrial and noise elements; Viande curate a nightmarish experience like no other. Their debut album is a phenomenal one and their live shows are supremely intense. Thankfully they have not lost that edge and the opening moments of “Monument Aux Morts” concoct a pungent and bloody cocktail of death, horror, morbidity and anxiety. 

From the sparse waves of anguishing dissonance to the hammering savagery of a more bestial rage; there is a range of emotions but they always link back to this dirty and malicious atmosphere that haunts this bloodcurdling record. Their use of dynamics is precise, wasting no time but also taking plenty to corrupt your soul with this suffocating and hostile experience which has clearly not been rushed. The attentiveness to detail and depth of the sound is magnificent. All of the small textures heighten the sensory experience while the obvious bludgeoning carnage is never diluted by anything unnecessary. A truly immersive session of auditory torture. Stirring disquiet from a bottomless abyss of inhuman black/death metal force; Viande has definitely created something potent that balances sheer violence with a more introspective and uncomfortable experience that is as haunting as it is scathing.

To quote my interview with Viande about this album’s creation: “Psychiatric wards, intensive care, drunk brawls leading to serious health problems, accidents, recovery… Some of us paid a very heavy price”. It is clear their music has led them to the darker realms, and that is palpable in these nauseating pieces of musical sickness. Their desire to create “highly visual and evocative music” has certainly been fulfilled here, as the record will transport you to an abattoir of horrors that take disturbing form. While lengthy, this album is varied, and its charred being twists into new constellations of darkness and depravity to ensure you will never quite predict what’s coming, nor feel any sense of security or safety throughout. The discordance meets militant aggression, and the fluid, incorporeal form of Viande moves between these sections effortlessly, with transitions that always evoke the maximum in vibrant despair.

This is as twisted as it gets. A foreboding and yet lethal dose of blackened death metal with such a superb sense of texture, sound, and atmosphere. There is no shortage of mean-spirited atmospherics and an equally sublime abundance of furious disarray. Though all of this comes together due to the constant, unwavering sense of doom that is conveyed with profound disdain and a mighty delivery from start to finish. From the pits of your stomach, you might feel revulsion towards this record and yet be allured by its authentic and unique approach to black/death metal that manages to summon a more zealous spirit to the style than many.

For more; read my Viande interview here.