Rain is never far away with Drache.
After a split with Brouillard, quickly followed by a debut album, the project of Belgian musician Déhà (Chaînes, Cult of Erinyes, Imber Luminis, Maladie, SLOW, The Nest, Wolvennest, Yhdarl, ex-Clouds, ex-Merda Mundi…) announces the release of Devenir le Rien, his second album, on the French label Transcendance.
The album opens oppressively with the nihilistic A la gloire de rien du tout, offering a raw Old School mix from which ghostly howls emerge, suffocating anyone who seems to approach the cloud of tenebrous sonorities. A few haunting melodies keep us captive to this storm of melancholy roots, before a slight lull in the proceedings lets La lumière radiante greet CVB, reinforcing the vocal parts’ aggressiveness as the flood of darkness continues to roll in. A few slower passages let us breathe before we sink once more into the most intense depths, where the most heart-rending cries are born and finally bring us back to a gentle outro and then to Devenir le rien, the eponymous track, which keeps the soothing approach while dying it with that usual heavy saturation. Although governed by blast and double kick, the riffs remain airy and provide the perfect basis for desperate cries, while A la gueule, track welcoming Brouillard (Vertige, Transcending Rites…) is much more majestic, creating a contrast with the much cruder lyrics, especially on the clean break, which lets us breathe again before this new tidal wave. The soothing introduction to Le paradis sounds like a real deliverance, only to be swiftly annihilated by the return of those soul-piercing screams, and the hazy haunting riffs that still float naturally in our minds as hope gradually seems to go up in smoke, finally leaving Les arbustes sont morts, the shortest of the compositions, to close the album with a relatively accessible melody, but which is once again perverted by saturation and unhealthy vocals with catchy backing vocals, all sinking together into nothingness.
Déhà is known both for its tireless productivity and for its quality, and Drache is just one more shining example. Devenir le Rien is undoubtedly rooted in darkness, but it also allows the musician to reveal an abrasive melancholy and terrifying intensity.
95/100