The revolt rumbles on with Seth.
With their seventh album, La France des maudits, the band composed of Heimoth (bass, Sinsaenum), Alsvid (drums, Griffar, ex-Ad Patres, ex-Enthroned), Saint Vincent (vocals, Blacklodge, Vorkreist), Drakhian (guitar, Griffar, ex-Loudblast), Pierre Le Pape (keyboards, Melted Space, Embryonic Cells, ex-Wormfood) and Esx Vnr (bass, Vorkreist, ex-Glorior Belli, ex-Merrimack) confirm their partnership with Season of Mist.
Paris des Maléfices gets to the heart of the matter with cutting riffs supported by a few majestic keyboards, followed by vindictive vociferations. The mood changes naturally enough to let heady melodies come into play, then fury returns with Et que Vive le Diable! where Old School influences are expressed through unhealthy dissonance. A semblance of harmony is found in this danceable chaos, galvanized by Saint Vincent‘s howls that meander between the scathing leads before settling into oppression for a while on La Destruction des Reliques, with its cathartic slowness disturbed only by energetic drumming. The rhythm retains this more haunting touch even when accelerating, but the impressive final is a reminder of the band’s power, as they follow up with the melancholy Dans le Coeur un Poignard, perverted by the unhealthy influences of this airy, tenebrous false quietude. The end clearly descends into madness and fogs our minds, before giving us a welcome break on Marianne, a soothing interlude in the colors of this symbolic figure of the French Republic, before returning to saturation when Ivre du Sang des Saints begins, with a catchy, motivating approach. Blasts and jerky riffs collaborate to give this track a truly warlike feel as the vocalist weaves his venom, but the break will give more airy tones to the final moments, leading us to Insurrection and its obvious vindictiveness, complemented by an imposing atmosphere. The track is relatively long, and tells of a half-historical, half-blasphemous aggression, but it too is broken by a haze of oppressive calm before the storm returns, and then it’s with Le Vin du Condamné, the last track where the musicians emphasize the theatrical and majestic dimension more than the violence itself, that the band closes its album, creating a kind of climax of intensity.
If you had any doubts about them, Seth is a great band, and the French scene can be proud of it. La France des maudits perfectly knows how to use all the means at their disposal to fascinate us, then hit us relentlessly, before returning to a captivating beauty.
95/100