ECR.LINF: Belluaires (BLACK METAL): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

At a time when bands and records often seem interchangeable, undermined by a desolate conformism, especially in black metal, we must cherish those who assert a strong character and approach to the genre. Such is the case with Ecr.Linf, a newcomer to the french black metal chapel. Everything about it is curious and intriguing.

Starting with its name, an abbreviation of the formula “Ecrasons l'infâme” (“Let's crush the infamous”) with which Voltaire concluded his letters. The infamous more particularly referred to religious beliefs. The band didn't choose this reference to the author of Candide by chance: his philosophical heritage and his depiction of a sick society contaminated by the return of religion form the basis of their universe. Hence the astonishing label of Voltairian black metal. The title of his new release is also curious. A "belluaire" refers to a gladiator who fought wild beasts, a rather rare word used by Gustave Flaubert, Victor Hugo or (a little) more recently Frank Herbert in the Dune saga.

Yet another literary muse shaping a singular identity which, in truth, doesn't come as much of a surprise when you know who's behind Ecr.Linf. The project seals the artistic reunion of two former Jarell members, guitarist Dorian Lairson and singer Krys Denhez, whose musical audacity and strong personality, from Omrade to Demande à la Poussière and Ophe, are well established. The duo were soon joined by seasoned mercenaries who'd been with No Return (bassist Jiu Gebenholtz) or Svart Crown (drummer Remi Serafino). All these fine people came together in the bowels of Edgard Chevallier's studio (Demande à la poussière) to give birth to “Belluaires”, released in France by Source Atone Records, Krys Denhez's own label (and My Kingdom Music internationally). We remain in the same family, that of musicians as demanding as they are inspired by the same vision of black art, with its cerebral brutality.

Indeed, 'Le désespoir du prophète' (The Prophet's Despair) immediately sets the scene for this first opus, an intense, feisty opener that nonetheless oozes a sticky malaise. Clogged with the raging vocals of a verve-filled Krys and angry lyrics, the menu flies by, a torrential, relentless block of eight manifestos stretched like a ship's jib. But there's more to this album than forty minutes of brutality. The musicians, certainly in unison with a violence as paroxysmal as it is subterranean (man, what drumming! ), take care to break up the violence of their compositions with more atmospheric passages ('Tribunal de l'Ame' and its distant hints of symphonic black) or by inoculating accordion notes ('La Danse des Crânes') or haunted keyboard strings (the rather harsh 'Le Royaume du Vide') like cysts, which far from diminishing their darkness make them even more unhealthy.

And what can we say about the haunting, pulsating 'Missive', the highlight of the listening experience despite being the least black metal track of the lot, but to which the singer infuses a powerfully dramatic, desperate poetry that stirs the guts. Throughout, “Belluaires” is corrupted by a profound sense of inexorability, which culminates in a tormented finale embodied by “Ultime projection”, as vicious as it is ramshackle, “Valetaille”, haunted by a funereal echo and sheared by scalpel-cold guitars, and finally “Feu pâle”, a conclusion parasitized by sizzling miasma which, despite its short duration, has its place in a whole eaten away by a raging spleen.

For its birth certificate, Ecr.Linf strikes a blow with “Belluaires”, a highly personal black metal album whose viscera teems with a darkness as aggressive as it is desperate. - Official website

ECR.LINF

BELLUAIRES

MY KINGDOM MUSIC

BLACK METAL