Csejthe - Reminiscence

Anyone who has been reading my thoughts on the music I have been listening to long enough will know about my big interest in black metal scene out of Quebec, Canada. If you are ever wanting to hear more recent black metal that reminds you of True Norwegian Black Metal and the French black metal scene. This is seriously as close as it gets. Cold, atmospheric, mysterious, dark, raw, noisy and passionate. I can't think of too many black metal bands that embrace all those elements like the early days like the bands from Quebec do. For the moment, lets look at Csejthe new album 'Reminiscence'.

Eerie and intricate tremolo riffs, pacing drum patterns like a noisy freezing wind laced with the monotonous harsh and sometimes clean vocals that feel like a distant call coming from the other side of the dark woods. When not pacing through the woods, they sit back and just let their music wander majestically. Like slowing down and slowly walking through the paths, but still maintaining that cold and distorted heavy sound.

This is just blanketed in cold and dark atmosphere. Like a thick, bleak mist settling through and over the snow covered trees. What adds to this is just how old this feels. This sounds more like 1991-93, not 2013. Even through the sound, you can detect that mysteriousness and that sense of pride in their playing. This isn't all direct in your face with all the corpse paint and spikes going with it. They let the music do the talking. That appears to be the case with most of bands in the Quebec black metal scene. The music is at the forefront, the mystery to who they are themselves is perhaps the image. I like that.

'Reminiscence' is a better album than 'La Mort du Prince Noir'. They still don't have that same appeal to me as say the likes of Gris and Sombres Forets, but this is certainly a big step up. The Quebec scene is constantly growing but at the same time, a lot of them have been breaking up (Utlagr, Sui Caedere, Veneficium). It is only a matter of time until Csejthe is up there with the best of them.

With the release of the new Gris and Sombres Forets albums in the next few weeks, 'Reminiscence' will keep me well occupied till then. A good album from a scene that is currently producing some of the most underrated black metal bands.

Ikil