Netra 

Melancolie Urbaine

Hypnotic Dirge 2011

Dark city streets, deserted, with the pale light of streetlamps forming islands within this desolation.  That's the image I get when I listen to French depressive black metallers, Netra.  Trip-hop beats and solemn textures flow out of my speakers as City Lights gets underway.  Isolated guitar strikes against a backdrop of sparse synth create a depressive mood as the track continues.  Strained shrieks, somewhat like Malefic of Xasthur add to the despair.  A rolling tribal beat serves as the harbinger of the 80s New Wave/black metal hybrid that greets us on La Page, it makes me think of Varg being the primary songwriter for Flock of Seagulls.  Hints of blues and jazz surface during the sultry track, Outside Alone.  The song makes use of an extended sample of two people having a discussion which parallels shimmering white noise riffing.  Sorrowful piano lays the foundation for the subdued trip-hop of Through The Fear.  A lonely blues guitar solo stands out as Piano dances behind it.  Perhaps the most blatant track on the album to me is Terrain Vague with its ominous Portishead beat and sampled female voice, exclaiming "endless fucking."  The whole feeling of New Wave influence as seen through a Burzum window permeates Outside...Maybe.  A methodical bass guitar and washed out riffing catch a New wave melody on their fringe.  Melancolie Urbaine takes on a more black metal vision of what modern Manes were doing.  Electronic beats and unusual instrumentation fornicate slowly with suicidal black metal to drain hope from your body and refill it with gritty despair.