Conjonctive strikes again in 2024.
After a long period of silence, the Swiss band led by Sonia (vocals), Randy (vocals, Voice of Ruin), Yannick (guitar), Raph (guitar) and Guido (drums) have finished work on Misère de Poussière, their third album.
I discovered the band with Il Pleut sur les Cendres, a rather dark but also very violent first track which takes advantage of the diversity between the two vocalists to create an exchange under the powerful rhythmic. The band’s Deathcore roots are perfectly exploited to create a catchy and sometimes very heavy mix that spreads to Summer Hunt after a moment of heady dissonance, while drawing on its Hardcore influences to place some raw passages. The energetic alternation is sure to strike a chord live, as is the oppressive groove found on Misère de Poussière, an explosive, suffocating eponymous track that strikes us continuously and mercilessly. The French vocals reinforce the obvious darkness without denying the strength of the jerky riffs also found on Ombre et Ordure, where the band unveils some particularly effective infrabass to get us moving before the dark moments. The short Dying Melody follows without delay, hitting us with all the rage it can from the outset, delaying the integration of heady harmonics before multiplying them on Minuit, between thick waves of stirring riffs. A few traces of clean vocals appear to create a horrific effect, but the sound becomes more accessible with Décembre Noir, even daring Prog tinges on the introduction before unleashing the surge at full speed. Randy‘s growl comes to the fore on Un Dimanche Sanglant, responding to Sonia‘s wild scream, whether in moments of devastating fury or the brief moments of intoxicating quietude that separate the eruptions, then we’re thrown into Nocturnal Terror, a composition that also plays a lot on rhythm changes, but which also goes by rather quickly. The final assault is called Au Royaume des Ombres, and it marks the end of the album with an intense heaviness, whether in the vocals or the instrumental, tortured between the band’s two universes.
Conjonctive have made a successful comeback with a powerful album that is as much about Deathcore as it is about their dark influences. The alternation of English and French makes Misère de Poussière a varied but imposing album.
90/100