Contemplation misanthropique de l'humanité...

Défaillance is yet another depressive/suicidal black metal band which emerged out of the french scene in the past few years. They play in a typical low-key, slow and depressive manner, and these types of bands have been really popular as of late. None of these have, however, been able to capture the true spirit of depressive black metal. Défaillance does what it does very well: good production, very trebly and distorted guitars, desperate screams, good vocals and the whole deal. However, everything is executed in such a calculated and predictable way that it's in one ear and out the other. This album contains only 3 songs, two of which clock in a twelve minutes and the other one being four minutes long, although it's the highlight. Riff-wise, this is straight out of the scandinavian second wave, containing zero originality and/or soul, since we've all heard them countless amounts of times already. The sound of the guitars is exactly like Beatrik. That's saying something, since Beatrik sounds like everyone else. The keyboards sound exactly like what we heard on Burzum's Filosofem. The drums sound exactly like every single black metal recording out there, although I enjoy the fact that there is no blasting. Now on paper, this sounds exciting: depressing black metal guitar tone, burzum-like keyboard, typical drums? The problem is its lack of originality. This album would have been hailed an instant classic had it been released 5 or 10 years ago. However, these days, this sound is very easy to achieve and isn't given much credit, since a lot of bands play in this style. The harsh suicidal genre is performed ways better by acts such as Forgotten Tomb and Malleus Maleficarum just to name a few. Not to mention the songs only have one or two riffs each. It should also be noted that this full-length is only 30 minutes and 58 seconds long, which is 8 seconds longer than the EP they released in 2006. Why release a full-length? So, how will this be remembered? It won't. And if it is, it'll be just another suicidal, misanthropic, slow-paced, repetitive and trebly album trying to recapture the magic once created by individuals such as Kristian "Varg" Vikernes. Hop on the bandwagon!

I often find myself saying what a surprise something is in the music world today. It's a great era to be alive in, it really is. Metal music is really developing and is becoming a real force. I've said it so often down the years, but black metal is improving steadily. Whilst I don't think it will ever reach the commercialised stage of popular music, or any other form of music in the limelight, it's got a decent following of loyal fans ready and willing to support the cause. Black metal is a genre that is ever expanding, also. Numerous sub-genres are becoming the focus these days. Lately, I have even found myself sitting down to listen to a whole range of sub-genres. Anything from the better known depressive angle of black metal to the lesser known psychedelic take. As the genre grows in stature, musicians are more and more likely to pick up their instruments in an attempt to recreate the genre. This can only be a good thing.


The year 2007 was known as one of the best years for metal since the dawn of it's creation. There were strong debuts to be heard. Bands were cropping up all over the world, showing intent and gaining immediate success. 2007 was the year to be a musician. Bands that had been around for many years were releasing albums that were heralding the importance of metal as a genre, on the whole. Black metal, in particular, had really taken off. It was in full swing and that appears to have been carried over into this year, 2008. What we have here is something quite unusual. Whilst it's nothing out of the ordinary for a genre that sees many bands just like it, there are certain qualities that make Défaillance a really prominent outfit.


The most notable thing about the debut is the bass. Black metal isn't regarded for it's use of bass. Whilst you can tell it's there due to the dark and rather dull sound, bass has never been overly important in the black metal quest for world domination of the scene. Défaillance strike me as a band who're looking to change that. The debut, 'Contemplation Misanthropique de l´Humanité...' harnesses the qualities that make bass good and projects it on this album. Whilst the bass tends to 'steal' the overriding sense of repetition that the guitars possess, it's effective in it's goal. The bass is the key to projecting the lower textures and tones of the soundscapes. On this particular album, the bass is key to depicting emotion. Usually, it's the guitars that are left to do that and the bass is often drowned out. There is no competition here, which is pleasing. The bass doesn't attempt to out stage the guitars, or any other element of this full-length, but instead, it works with the other instruments to give those overwhelming emotive qualities a further boost, as if they needed it.


The guitars set a steady pace. The sound projected from the guitars is largely repetitive, like the bass, but again, it's effective. The repetitive nature of this album is meant to attract attention to the emotion behind the picking on the strings and it does so, very well. At times, the lead guitar can sound rather hollow. It doesn't much change in sound. One constant noise is all we're left with, but it's a pleasing noise. The soundscapes are better off with the sound Défaillance have created here. The guitars aren't overpowering in any sense because the distortion of the riffs never becomes too much to handle. The bass is obviously low so that doesn't cause a problem at all for the audience who're obviously trying to get to grips with the emotive aspect of this album.


The percussion is like the rest. Repetitive, monotonous and rarely does it ever change in tempo. However, the full-length we have on offer here packs enough into it to become a firm favourite for many. Unfortunately, I can see this album picking up a few 'Burzum clone' chants. Whilst there are elements, especially due to the use of the keyboards, where this French act do resemble some of the ambient work Burzum created, but this is very much it's own style. Just another all round good black metal album, if a rather short.