Calm returns with Marche Funebre.

Formed in 2008, the band comprising Arne Vandenhoeck (vocals, Bleak Cold Irrelevance), Kurt Blommé (guitar), Dennis Lefebvre (drums, Witch Piss), Boris Iolis (bass/vocals, Soul Dissolution) and Fré De Schepper (guitar, Carrion, ex-Lemuria) unveil this After the Storm, their fifth album.

In A Haze gradually floods us with the band’s melancholy, thanks to dissonant guitars, followed by a massive rhythm section and wild howls. The haunting tone is shaken up by drum beats, and calms again with the break before welcoming clean vocals for a soaring finale that carries us through to Palace Of Broken Dreams, where clean vocals takes the reins of the track for a soothing moment. The rhythm rolls along slowly until Arne‘s growls takes over to accompany the heady harmonics, then the two vocalists respond to each other to bring the composition to life, which eventually bursts into flames before giving way to Devoid of Empathy, and its hypnotic patterns. The singers naturally complement each other once again, steering the ship through the hazy riffs at a steady pace, leading us into the dark Enter Emptiness, which slows down to lock us in its heavy torpor, but eventually speeds up while retaining its suffocating ambience. The sound gradually slows down before Stranded takes its place, adopting more energetic jerky patterns, but the Gothic influences make it quite macabre despite the upbeat clean vocal parts. The sound slowly dies again, but After The Storm brings it back to life, revealing sometimes more dissonant tones as the vocal harmony takes shape and the rhythm section ignites, but the break rushes us on to the final wave and its jovial tones that bring the album to a close.

Marche Funebre knows perfectly how to handle the dark power of Doom/Death, but the clean vocal parts sometimes give it a completely different aspect. After The Storm stands out for its intriguing contrast, and will have no trouble winning you over.

85/100

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