(The Flenser has released the first new album by Bosse-de-Nage in eight years, and today Todd Manning shares his thoughts about it.)
Avant-garde metal band Bosse-de-Nage disappeared from the scene years ago, their absence as mysterious as their sound. They appeared dormant if not disbanded, but in truth, they have been slowly crafting their new album, Hidden Fires Burn Hottest. Now it’s time for the world to hear what they have been working on.
Bosse-de-Nage has always been hard to pin down, usually classified as black metal but that only works compared to other genres. Trying to understand Hidden Fires Burn the Hottest is like engaging in negative theology, it is easier to list the things it is not rather than define what it is.
Photo by Bobby Cochran
Album opener, “Where to Now?”, has the blast beats and windstorm guitars one would expect; it has the harsh vocals, yet it doesn’t feel overly aggressive. It is melancholic but not in the “depressive black metal” sense. Is it ennui or detachment? Or perhaps anger and frustration because of ennui and detachment? The band offers no easy answers, but the listener is drawn into these emotional grey areas. And partway through the song, the guitar cleans up and a piano appears in the background. It’s like a detour into post-rock, but when is that genre ever so concise?
A couple of songs later, Bosse-de-Nage seems to reveal a gothic or post-punk influence, but even then, they sidestep the normal Bauhaus and Joy Division overtones. “In the Name of the Moth” instead seems to conjure early Christian Death and that’s only after an intro that splits the difference between Don Caballero and Red Sparrows. Then the middle part of the song inserts a chord progression that wouldn’t be out of place on a post-hardcore record, almost hopeful, minus the anguished bellows of the vocals.
There are genre-defying interludes, too. And they aren’t just stop-gaps between the songs. They seem like they could be a side-project unto themselves. “With A Shrug” hints at the Godspeed! You Black Emperor offshoot Set Fire to Flames, or a minimalist Max Richter piece. “Triangular Dream” sounds like a sludge band playing under a blanket of nuclear fallout.
If one is looking for a moment of vicious black metal, the appropriately titled “Frenzy” is the place to go. It opens with a riff reminiscent of Deathspell Omega, dissonant and abstract and the vocals are full of vitriol. After the initial fury, this song too submerges itself into an ambient bath. Eventually it resurfaces, the drumming still fast but the guitar and vocals laying into a rhythmic dirge.
I drive a lot for my day job and was able to absorb my first listen of this album straight through on a foggy morning. It was a day halfway between winter and spring, undefinable unless we create more names for more seasons. It captured the ambiguity of Bosse-de-Nage perfectly. If you’re looking for something easily digestible, something that doesn’t require close attention or deep thought, look elsewhere. Hidden Fires Burn Hottest is a deep listening experience. While it may defy easy analysis, it invites deep engagement. The rewards might be harder to gain but they will be worth the effort.
https://bosse-de-nage.bandcamp.com/album/hidden-fires-burn-hottest
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