Loudblast still reigns.
Pioneers of the Death/Thrash scene in France, the band led since 1985 by Stéphane Buriez (guitar/vocals, Sinsaenum, Le Bal des Enragés, T.T.T.) and completed by Hervé Coquerel (drums, Undead Prophecies, ex-Black Bomb A), Nicklaus Bergen (guitar, T.T.T., ex-ADX) and Frédéric Leclercq (bass, Kreator, Sinsaenum, ex-Dragonforce) unveil Altering Fates and Destinies, their ninth album.
The band also counts on Pierre-Emmanuel Pélisson (bass, Asylum Pyre) for live performances.
From Beyond II (The Return) provides a solid foundation for the album’s opening track, whether with a thick rhythm section featuring dissonant harmonics or Stéphane‘s powerful vocal parts reinforcing the Old School feel. The atmosphere becomes heavier with the break, but is lightened again by the solo before Putrid Age of Decay unveils its eerie sounds of macabre leads, which the band integrates perfectly with its efficient rhythm section. The band slows down slightly to make Crystal Skin heavier, but also stranger thanks to the mysterious screams that haunt the Black/Death-influenced composition. Back to raw efficiency with Miserable Failure, a track that starts out more straightforward but still knows how to bring in occult-sounding guitars to fuel its darkness before an explosive final, then it’s with He Who Slumbers that the sound picks up again with heady double leads. The rest of the composition is relatively majestic, letting the band play with its heavy ambience and choirs that garnish the long rhythm before giving way to Son of Nameless Mist, which unveils itself in waves, but is obviously anchored in violence. The wrenching lead guitar perfectly matches the oppression, often proposing haunting elements, just as on Dark Allegiance, which finds interesting points of technicality in each instrument to build a catchy universe. The sound becomes more accessible again with Inhale the Void, which features a furious blast, but also, and above all, energetic jerky patterns and a crystalline break that surprises before the aggression returns. Aggression remains the order of the day on the brutal Cursed and Veiled, a fairly short but extremely effective composition that doesn’t hesitate to slow down to develop its cryptic melodies, as on Fortress, the longest of the tracks, which progresses with hypnotic slowness and incredibly haunting passages, despite an almost soothing break that divides it in two.
The band is clearly not about to let up, as a couple of bonus tracks await us. The first of these is They’ll Never Catch The Glint of Sunlight Again, which begins with an intriguing dissonance before launching into its thick, tortured riffs and powerful vocal parts, as well as ominous backing vocals. The sound fades before giving way to The Path To The End, which in turn plays on relatively pessimistic tonalities, whether with the background vocals, the regular but heavy riffs or the jerky final, then the album comes to an end with Forbidden Pleasure, the final and shortest of the compositions, which lets the musicians give free rein to their violence at a relatively moderate pace.
Nearly forty years after its creation, Loudblast confirms that the band is still in top form. Altering Fates and Destinies, with its Lovecraftian influences, guarantees darkness and violence at every turn, while developing captivating occult tones.
90/100