(written by Islander)
The French extreme metal band Viande named their 2022 debut album L’abime dévore les âmes, which can roughly be translated as “The abyss devours souls”. It was a fitting title, because in listening to the music we imagined horrific terrors that await the extinction of life in endless chasms from which there is no escape — an abyss lying deep within the earth, opening its giant maw to swallow what now dwells in the sun, or a supernatural dimension to be revealed when hideous powers have decided the time is right, or a frigid void, or what lies within deranged human minds bent on mayhem and murder.
Now Viande are returning with a second album, again to be released by Transcending Obscurity Records (On July 31st). The name of this new one is Monument aux mort — literally a “monument to the dead,” but a phrase that also refers to war memorials established in towns throughout France to honor those killed in the World Wars and other lethal conflicts.
Like the first album, the new one triggers the imagination of listeners. Inevitably, it creates mental visions — daunting, dangerous, and viscerally haunting ones. As T.O. says, “When this carefully devised album ends, the feeling is akin to stumbling out of a horrific catacomb in an enhanced spiritual state, with the cries of a thousand dead souls still ringing in your head.”
As proof of this, we offer you the sounds of “Sacrifice ardent” (which refers to a sacrifice offered with utmost fire and fervor).
In listening to the song, even without knowing the lyrics, it’s not difficult to imagine the nature of the sacrifice referred to in the song’s name: the sacrifice must be life itself. That seems clear enough, given the militaristic nature of the drumming and the brutally mauling impact of the dense, abrasive riffing that opens the track.
As ravenous growls and impassioned howls emerge, the riffing writhes (in apparent agony) above hammering beats and rapid bass pulses. The voice begins to scream when the music slows into a doomed and deadly stagger — and by slowing the pace, as they do repeatedly across the track, Viande seem to make clear that Death looms over the violent conflicts they are capturing in their music.
They cause the guitars to wail and moan, to yowl and insidiously slither. And as the pace slows even more, the song becomes frighteningly eerie, enveloping the listener in a cold and unearthly dimension, a truly soul-shuddering experience, though the vocals continue ranging across an array of ghastly and increasingly unhinged manifestations and the drums continue dynamically shifting (and dramatically booming).
In the end, the music becomes convulsive, creating a sonic maelstrom of violent madness, and the vocals seem to capture both that madness and the wrenching pain it has produced.
VIANDE LINEUP:
B – Guitar, synths
J – Vocals
O – Bass
I – Drums
T.O. will release Monument aux mort on vinyl LP, slipcase CD, and digital formats, along with lots of apparel choices, all of it featuring the cover art created by JB Godefroy. The label recommends the album for fans of Incantation, Teitanblood, Cruciamentum, Dwelling Below, and Dead Congregation. It’s available for pre-order via the links below.
The song we’ve premiered today is the fourth one to emerge from the album so far. At Bandcamp you can listen to the first three — “Linceul immense“, “Cercueil de vase“, and a bonus track named “L’homme Brasier“.
PRE-ORDER:
https://viandeband.bandcamp.com/album/monument-aux-morts
https://transcendingobscurity.aisamerch.com/
http://us.tometal.com/
http://eu.tometal.com/
VIANDE:
https://facebook.com/viandedeath
https://instagram.com/viande_death