Make way again for Décembre Noir.
Formed in 2008 in Germany, we had to wait until 2014 to hear the band’s first compositions. In 2023, Lars (vocals, Inner Absence, ex-Summer’s Dying), Martin (guitar, Egan, ex-Aeon of Fear, ex-Akrasatrum), Sebastian (guitar, ex-Aeon of Fear, ex-Akrasatrum), Stephan (drums, Gruppe Planet) and Fab (drums, Sacrifire, ex-Disbelief, ex-Wytchcraft) renew their collaboration with Lifeforce Records for the release of Your Sunset | My Sunrise, their fifth album.
The album opens with the airy melodies of the lengthy Dead End intertwining before the haunting rhythm joins in. Heavy howls and clear vocals also appear to give melancholy a heavier touch that gradually becomes suffocating before clean sound offers us a moment of appeasement. A calm voice accompanies us until saturation returns, making it even more overpowering while allowing dissonant touches, before Against the Daylight gives it a livelier dynamic, whether in terms of its motivating rhythm or vocal parts. The track’s heaviness is still noticeable, slightly dissipating as the melodies come flying around us, but they give way to Your Sunset | My Sunrise, which bewitches us with its harmonics in the background, while the other elements provide all the raw strength. Heady tones eventually join the rhythm, sometimes adding a mysterious touch, as do the orchestrations leading up to the break, followed by more intense vocal parts and Sentimental Giants, which allows us a short, calm introduction. Slowness is the main element at the start, as in the minimalist passages where only the voice and a strange melody answer to each other, but there are a few more devastating accelerations where saturation and double kick open the way for vocals to continue on Sleepwalker (In Yesterday’s Smoke), which further weighs down the atmosphere. The band even injects some aggressive parts flooded with blast between two more heady passages, and then they close this new chapter with Trivial Heart, letting fury give way to these worked and twirling leads that float easily above this heavy base, which will eventually fade away too.
Décembre Noir has always developed an heady and effective approach to melodic heaviness with remarkable regularity. Your Sunset | My Sunrise is yet another striking example.
90/100
