Le paradis du mal

We’ll roll a few years back, to the mid 1990’s to be precise, and will have a look at what was going around the French thrash/death metal scene at that time: not a very optimistic picture as a whole with both No Return and Mercyless taking deplorable falls with respectively “Seasons of Soul” (1995) and “C.O.L.D.” (1996). Massacra released the mildly entertaining “Humanize Human” (1995), chapter II from their recently epitomized groovy post-death sound. Agressor not surprisingly went full-on death metal with “Symposium of Rebirth” (1994), the band’s finest hour and ironically their only album which, as of now, hasn’t been reviewed here on the Metal Archives.

“So what’s new?”, some would ask; well, not much, as a matter of fact… if we exclude a bunch of youngsters named Godzilla (now that’s a display of a bad taste!) who released a string of rough-around-the-edges, but quite stylish, demos and who went onto conquering the scene only under another moniker, Gojira, in the new millennium. The female fronted one-album wonder (not anymore) Witches are worth mentioning with their intense enchanting thrash/death progressivisms on “3.4.1” (1994). By all means Droys, a collaboration between No Return and Witches band members, should be added with their brilliant 4-tracker “Experience”, the ultimate “experience” in technical thrash/death metal, later elaborated on their full-length “And if…” (1998), arguably the greatest French metal album of the 90’s…

Oops, I was going to forget: one demo should be added to this small group as well: “Death… Starvation… Plague and War”, released in 1995 by an obscure formation named Thalidomide; a marvellous nearly 30-min display of the finest technical thrash/death metal around boosted by a crystal clear sound quality… an effort which after all these years remains the best possible follow-up to Atheist’s “Unquestionable Presence”, even after the release of the Americans’ “Jupiter” in 2010. And not only that, but this small gem stands right beside the Droys output as the two finest exports France offered to the metal world during the 90’s.

Alas, unlike Droys, these folks never managed to release a full-length… They did, but that happened whole 8 years later at a time when France came splashing on the scene with a vengeance, introducing a horde of very talented technical death metal acts who took the genre by storm: the aforementioned Gojira, Dungortheb, Trepalium, Gorod, Korum, Outcast, etc. Still, the Thalidomide only official recording proudly stands on the forefront of this outbreak of creative genius. One would be very curious to check whether the guys have retained their spastic, hectic technical approach from the demo… and yes, he’ll find out that that same approach is here but… served with a solid portion of heavy doomy riffs. Yes, this is probably the first time when technical/progressive death metal collided with its biggest “enemy”: doom metal if, of course, we don’t count Demilich’s twisted experimentations on “Nespithe”.

The truth is that at times the delivery here is pure vintage doom before a sudden frantic technical section arrives, literally out of nowhere, to break “the idyll” and this gimmick gets repeated over and over to a fairly positive effect. “Les Maitres del I’llusion” starts this contrasting saga blending the two genres in a fairly intriguing, inimitable manner as the deathy outbursts never go beyond the mid-pace regardless of their twisted, unpredictable nature. The nods to the Atheists are plentiful again, from the vicious raven-like vocals, to the abrupt hectic time and tempo-changes, to the surreal spastic riffage and the great bass implements: there will be no uneducated guesses as to who the main influence of the guys is… “Le Regne de “l’innommable” breaks the doom/death “wedlock” being a short fast technical blitzkrieger death/thrashing with passion till the end. Fair compensation, however, is offered immediately on “Les Fleaux de l’obscurantisme” doom taking the first half leaving room for the speedy twisted riffs to do the final damage later.

“Last Breath” is a brilliant progressive doom/death opus, a consummate symbiosis between the two approaches with a few beautiful melodic hooks thrown in to spice the proceedings. “Survivre par le Sang” is 3.5-min of surreal hallucinogenic, quasi-doomy technicality with Sumerian… sorry, Canadian echoes of Gorguts and Martyr as well; an attractive tendency partially continued on “Laboratories of Death” which is jumpier and more frantic in a cool Confessor-esque way, with a nice jazzy lead-driven break. All the way to the title-track which begins with an enchanting acoustic intro and a great balladic, lead-driven again interlude before the twisted meandering riffs appear out of nowhere retaining the doomy atmosphere also thanks to a few nice melodic motifs.

Yes, it’s true that you can have the best from both worlds, and this album is the testimony for that. The seamless transitions from one style to another ensure a relatively smooth listen with highlights coming from both genres as the more favoured would probably be the ones from the death/thrash metal camp thanks to their more perplexing, more mind-stimulating nature. Although the allusions to Atheist will continue to flow all the way, one can’t help but notice the strife for a more individual expression, especially on the several passages where the band try to make doom sound technical those moments recalling Confessor again, Abstrakt Algebra, and Hexenhaus’ “Dajevoodoo”. Besides, this effort can be taken anytime as the antidote to the super-fast mathematical riff-mongers following on the steps of Cryptopsy, Suffocation, and Necrophagist; this is technical death/thrash all the way through which won’t beat you into a stupefied pulp with the relentless maddening speed, but will delight you with a comprehensive, moderate pace where every riff resonates with the utmost precision making itself clearly heard and thoroughly savoured. At times the music is surreally beautiful, at others it’s demanding and engaging, at times it’s even a bit relaxing when doom hits in league with the semi-ballad and those really good melodic leads. Thumbs up for original thinking and musical audacity…

Both thrash and death metal were widely awake in the new millennium, and the band could have stayed afloat with their interesting, less ordinary interpretation of those genres’ canons. Well, this tasty Burgundy wine traditional for the area they hail from, must have slackened their senses and skills since the guys never produced a follow-up and don’t show any avid interest in coming back for a few more complex doom/deathy thrashisms any time soon. The macabre hellish throat Christophe Pigal has lent his services to the symphonic black metallers Necrosphera, under the alias Lord Ambucias, along with the drummer Olivier Casula both keeping in good shape for the next attempt at conquering the scene with another Thalidomide-infused portion of antediluvian, ship-sinking rhythms on an urgent, technically challenging base.