The Great Old Ones summons the elders again in 2025.
More than five years after their last offering, Benjamin Guerry (guitar/vocals) and Aurélien Edouard (guitar), now accompanied by Hugo Bernart (guitar), Gregory Vouillat (bass) and Julian Deana (drums, Simulacre), set out on the quest for Kadath, their fifth album, released via Season of Mist.
The journey begins with Me, the Dreamer, first in the softness of the introduction, then in the rage when the name of the city (and of the album) is evoked. Occult dissonant riffs take the atmosphere by storm, changing in an instant with the soaring harmonics of the guitars and bass, which fall silent only to allow the mysterious break to capture our attention, before returning to close its curtain of bewitching darkness. The band takes a brief respite on Those from Ulthar, but we once again enter a city in the grip of deepest darkness, hiding an abrasive violence that expresses itself at every turn, whether in the visceral howls or the devastating rhythm, before the majestic final. Dissonance reigns supreme with In the Mouth of Madness, which swallows us whole with its frantic riffs or lets us breathe with its calmer passages, once again reinforcing the scope of the vocals before giving way to Under the Sign of Koth’s raw power, which nevertheless develops hazy leads. There’s also a sense of directional drumming and a loose bassline, allowing the guitars to throb while Benjamin vociferates his soul, eventually creating a vortex of darkness before moving on to The Gathering, where a few soothing notes welcome us. The track serves as a soothing bridge to Leng, where the mystical sounds return to torment us, offering a jerky enough pace to spill its intoxicating waves along with a clear sample, and a restful break. The guitars still deliver their heady magic when abandoned by saturation, but soon return to crush us voicelessly, wandering off into nothingness, then joining Astral Void (End of the Dream) with the “oui toi, viens à moi” (“yes you, come to me” in French) that signals the reappearance of the vocals. The melodious harmonics are also back again in this track, which explores the planes of Atmospheric Black Metal with a very gripping progression to this heart-rending climax that finally sends us to the final track, Second Rendez-Vous. A track in French, for a French band, is not uncommon, especially when it comes to Black Metal, but this one seems totally different from the rest of the album, whether in terms of leads, progression or even experimentation, as the vocals are once again absent and the band takes the liberty of including some very strange keyboards to stick with this airy mysticism. Then it’s all over.
For some reason I can’t explain, I didn’t like The Great Old Ones for a long time. But a concert three years ago, followed by Kadath, changed my mind. The intensity is simply unreal, mystical and simply gripping.
95/100