First sign of allegiance for Les Bâtards du Roi.
Created in 2022 in Orléans, the band is made up of Regicide (vocals/guitar), Lancelot (guitar), Daemonicus (drums) and Blaspheme (bass/vocals). Barely two years later, the band signs with L’Ordalie Noire to bring us Les bâtards du roi, their debut album.
Blaspheme left the band shortly after its release.
The adventure begins with an ecclesiastical-sounding Prologue, followed by a voice that sets the historical context as the rhythm slowly approaches before exploding on Les Bâtards du Roi, where cutting riffs mingle with raw vocal parts and wild blast. The sharp guitar melodies quickly become heady as the rhythm accelerates, as on Pestilence, where a hint of Old School Black/Death completes the catchy mix that washes over us with only the central break for respite. The track is relatively short, and gives way to Tourment and its tortured leads, which develop a slight melancholic touch that adds to the omnipresent rage, as witnessed by the bass-driven clean sound passage. Violence naturally resurfaces for the final, then the band enters a lighter atmosphere with La Fin de la Journée, letting harmonics offer much more inviting tones, almost borrowing from Folk for its good mood, before returning to darkness on Les Litanies des Fils Bannis, which regains an unhealthy vivacity while revealing some more haunting passages. The band segues seamlessly into Mi-Noble Mi-Sauvage, where the patterns shift from morbid aggression to moments of majestic calm, as in the final moments leading up to Jeanne and its dissonant leads. The plaintive clear-voiced choruses make the track more ethereal, as does the break of sampled vocals before the final charge that joins Un Jour Je Quitterai Cette Terre, where sadness and reverie meet more fiery moments to close the album with a persistent duality.
Les Bâtards du Roi have a distinct visual identity, and it would take just a little something more for Les bâtards du roi to follow this approach. The compositions all have an interesting part going for them, and they’re just waiting for the spark to ignite the pyre.
70/100