...les murmures de la forêt...

Another French Canadian band expressing its love and loyalty to French Canadian culture and history by celebrating the forested landscapes of Quebec: this time it's Triskele with "Les Murmures de la Foret". These guys have put considerable thought and work into creating an album that combines black metal, acoustic guitar tunes, tribalistic drumming music and symphonic / orchestral music. The result is not always original and some ideas run out of creative puff quickly but there is drama and a sense that the land of Quebec harbours memories of great deeds and events that humans have forgotten. The band handles pace and spaces within the music well and tries to avoid obvious black metal cliches.

One such cliche is the practice of having intro and outro tracks done in a non-BM or non-metal style, usually ambient or something that brings in a cold, wintry atmosphere to set the scene for the music. The intro and outro tracks here are done in a heroic, dramatic style with synth-generated orchestral music and a choir. The intro track "Prelude" especially is like a war hymn with a ponderous beat and a repetitive melody dominated by a synthesised brass instrument. Not much room at all for a cold atmosphere here unless we go to the title track "Murmurs of the Forest" which is a very long (in my opinion, too long) instrumental track dominated by a solo martial drum beating out a determined rhythm behind which we can hear metal implements being chipped or prepared, as if for war. The effects can sound a little industrial - there's a metal whine about halfway through the track and some of the noises can have multiple associations depending on where you're coming from in terms of life experience. The sparse and repetitive music can verge on boring for some listeners but there is a concentrated energy which unfortunately doesn't have much of an outlet.

The rest of the album features very steely, almost noise-industrial BM with jagged chainsaw guitars, a deep bass guitar and percussion that's heavy on the cymbal-bashing. The vocals are smothered in reverb and seem far back in the mix. The pace can vary from very slow, which could reflect a doom metal influence, to very fast. The musicians seem to be playing in a metal-lined shaft in an underground or secret location as the guitars sound very metallic and the overall ambience feels oppressive and insular. The drumming is good but is overshadowed by the cymbals which seem to be ten times more than are actually in the stick-man's drum-kit. Stand-out tracks include the depressive "Tenebre" which is slightly Burzumesque in the repetitive yet quite catchy melody and the fairly basic rhythm structure; and "Shades", a mournful instrumental track performed on drum, acoustic guitar (first half of track) and synth-treated guitar (second half of track) - this is quite unusual and a real highlight of the album. Generally though the music emphasises repetitive riffing and that is both a good thing and a bad thing on this album: one track "Permafrost" is not strong on melody and comes across as repetitive and unremarkable filler early on. When the music hits the accelerator the track attracts listener interest but even when it speeds up the riffs don't stand out much.

The album does have its interesting moments and my impression is that the musicians care very much about the music and what they want to express through it. At the same time they steer clear of melodrama and trying to manipulate people's emotions, that's a plus. My only big gripe relates to aspects of the production: too much clashing cymbal stuff is going on in a number of tracks that it obscures much of the drumming. If Triskele want to emphasise the martial aspect of the music and encourage Quebecois pride, I think they should tone down the tinny-sounding cymbals and emphasise the drums as a strong rhythmic element that drives the rest of the music.

Canada has been putting out a sizable amount of black metal bands, in a way reminiscent of France and their BM output. The major difference though, is in the way Canada's BM scene sounds. It's rawer, more lo-fi. So in comes Triskele, with Les Murmures de la Foret, and album allegedly recorded in a forest in Canada.

Well, the instruments get a lot of reverb because of this reason (or whatever they really did, I'm doubting this). What we have is a collection of no-frills black metal. Each song has about two or three riffs and some pretty damn good vocals. My main problem with this album is that the songs sound a bit too similar. Although I expected this, since most lo-fi BM is repetitive, I think this album is too much so.

There's a lot of talent in this band though, don't be discouraged by this. The title track has some great tribal drumming and triangle playing. It makes for a pretty interesting song, and definitely my favorite of the album. Hopefully, in the future, this band continues to create songs like this, and expand a little upon their black metal formula.

Damn, it took me SO FUCKING LONG to get this album. I looked for it everywhere, and then yesterday I find it AND Origines (the album after this one). I had heard only good thing about Triskèle, so I had to pick this up. I also heard they were somewhat similiar to Akitsa (another excellent BM band from Québec). So I picked this up, to see if these guys were really that good.

As you've also probably read, Les Murmures De La Forêt was recorded in the forest - which gives the guitars and the drums a lot of echo, basically everything instruments echoes a lot, and that gives a very unique sound to all the songs. It's not that similiar to Akitsa though. Akitsa uses lots of electronic effects and a bunch of stuff like that, but Triskèle only uses a guitar, bass, and drums (and a triangle for the acoustic tracks).

The only problems here is that most of the songs sound too similiar and deliver the same type of atmosphere, they give the same feelings to the songs. I would've appreciated this release more if it had 1) more acoustic tracks (still, the one provided on here is still amazing) and 2) Less repetitive riffs in songs. That doesn't mean this album isn't original though; it's packed with it. Just take a look at the long instrumental track "Les Murmures De La Forêt". It contains no guitar riffs at all, just "tribal" drumming and triangle that's supposed to immitate the sounds of the forest. It's very well executed. I also really enjoyed the aforementionned acoustic track "Ombres". It's really simple, but it gives a really sad and dark feeling to the album (contrarily to the opening track, "...Prélude", which gives the album a really "ancient" vibe to the album).

I hope these guys continue to make excellent music. Recommended if you like unique BM.

Triskele's 2003 debut album, Les Murmures de la Forêt in short is one of the most amazing black metal albums i've heard from the Canadian black metal legions! Rumor has it that this demo was recorded in the very depths of the forest. It isn't very doubtful with the aura that is created with this release. You can feel your self in the middle of the forest with the winds and trees chanting the cold hymms that embrace and suffocate you on the listening experience of this album!

The band plays very raw black metal yet include a very melodic side to them a la Ombres. With an excellent mixture as an intermission track within the cold and distant array of black metal assault throughout this album.

The vocals are as harsh as they come on this release. With the very darkness erupting from the depths of the vocalists soul can be seen as agonizing in some sections. You can really see this releases as the murmurs of the forest with the atmospheric improvement that the vocals provide through this release.

The guitar work is very calm to chaotic on this release. There is a lot of diversity in the melodies of this release that really helps push the album to greater distances ascending onto the blackend plateaus of brilliance in their music. This underground secret is a must listen to album for people. Absolutely brilliant in it's entirety as the music brings you to the blackest void of the nocturnal forest realms through this release. Truely a worthy album that shouldn't go unnoticed!