Neige et Noirceur

Crepuscule Hivernal Sans Fin sur Les Terres de la Guerre (Demo V)

Hypnotic Dirge Records 2009

Ambient black metal, French Canadian style.  That is what one can expect from Demo V of Neige et Noirceur which is comprised of three songs of hypnotizing black metal and dark ambience which instills a somewhat spiritual experience on the listener.  Aux Portes De La Crypte sets the tone for the album with walls of electronic keys, subterranean black metal vocals and chiming cathedral bells.  The 26 minute epic of the title track is a Burzum-ish trance inducing black metal hymn with repetitive riffs and catchy synths that draw the listener into a deep, impenetrable coma of somber, inner landscapes.  Windy sonic synth sections break up the intentionally monotonous guitar passages that mesmerize me.  Long after the album has ended those dense, trebly guitars and memorable keys linger inside my skull.  Towards the end of the track the intensity is ratcheted up with a heightened pace though it is no less spellbinding than the rest of the material.  Hibernation brings these proceedings to a close with split electronic personalities as it shifts from an electronic view of whale song to dark, tranquil yet haunting astral synth that climax like waves crashing on a distant shoreline.  Neige et Noirceur has conceived and composed an album of hypnotic ambient black metal that is both spellbinding and intensely cold.  Submerging the mind in timelessness broad and colorless landscapes these songs create voids with which to perform internal spiritual exploration and create a mood of suicidal hopelessness.  When the last notes of this album have faded, Neige et Noirceur leave me with a sense of freezing stillness.