AcoD rises from the depths.
A year after their last EP, Fred (vocals) and Jérome (bass/guitar/composition, Beyond the Permafrost) sign with Hammerheart Records for the release of their new album, Versets Noirs.
The first part of the album is a twenty-minute track called Habentis Maleficia. Although rather unusual for the style, the composition is anchored in mystical and mysterious roots that perfectly know how to assert themselves or give way to violence, as when the screams break through. There’s also a moment of clean vocals, leaving the words in French to once again darken the atmosphere adorned with majestic orchestrations and a few oriental influences, but also with heady and sometimes dissonant melodies. The central break gives us a moment of respite before surrendering to fury, while keeping the vocal duality with ever more intense and fascinating elements, and it’s with a certain melancholy that the sound slowly melts into the shadows.
The band follows up with the virulent The Son of a God (The Heir of Divine Blood), which develops an extremely catchy rhythm that will undoubtedly be insane on stage, and which contrasts with its more soothing elements such as the orchestrations or the final clean vocals leading us to A Thousand Lives in a Second, where the impressive approach crushes us as much as it hypnotizes us. The wall of blast doesn’t prevent the harmonics from enchanting us, before May This World Burn plunges us back into a misty, enigmatic atmosphere to strengthen the power of its unexpected eruption. A wave of gentleness offers us an unexpected moment of respite, before the tidal wave erupts again populated by ferocious screams, leading us to the quietude followed by Black Trip, A Samael cover from the Ceremony of Opposites album (celebrating its 30th anniversary this year!), which the band easily appropriates, integrating its majestic approach without diminishing its impact right up to the final.
Versets Noirs marks a new stage in AcoD‘s adventure, allowing them both to impose their touch and to offer some experimentation, as on the incredible first track. A real success in every respect.
95/100
Interview coming soon.