French Black Metal band Sael have been around since 2002 but this is their first full album release. As Black Metal goes, I’d say this album is at the 1349 end of it in musical style, but there is a healthy French Black Metal underground scene out there if you look hard enough, and this sits very much within that.
“Sixth Extinction” is fast and ferocious. I’ll say now that for any music, you get out what you put in as a listener but for all the ferocity and darkness of this album, I found myself on the outside and not putting anything in. Writing about an album is one thing and being engaged in the experience it is another. Yet there’s nothing really wrong with it. It’s non-stop and the shape keeps changing, which is normally a sign of good Black Metal. The first track “Being Judas” is furious, silent, funereal and again furious as the evil clouds build up around it. A mad pianist intervenes momentarily, and despair and anguish can be found among the irrepressible violence. Doesn’t sound too bad, does it? “Priest of Nothingness” rumbles on violently and has an air of melancholic majesty about it. A Spanish guitar opens “The Venom”, then it’s back to the usual blazing fury, fire and brimstone. The change of direction and movement is constant, like a story being told. I got a clue as to why this wasn’t grabbing me on “Mantra of the Fourth Age”. The drumming doesn’t have the authority that you might find elsewhere. The sirening guitars dominate. They’re upbeat but sinister. We’re in another whirlwind. The track ends atmospherically as the vocalist growls his chorus through gritted teeth. Defying my reservation, the drummer comes up with a good fast exit. “Inner Wrath” is also fast and meandering before slowing down and entering an eccentric and twisted phase. It drags on though. I did like “I Searched for the End of the Spiral”. The constantly fast and dark riff runs through the veins of this one. There’s nothing new there, but about 4 minutes in, there’s a deeply atmospheric and reflective section as if the world is crashing down. It rises in intensity and chaos enters the scene. This surprisingly leads into a solid riff and an excellent guitar solo. Altogether this is a good track which is effective in getting its point across and which generates interest. The final track “The Sixth Extinction” has a doomy start and we hear a dark dirge being preached. This wasn’t the best of endings, to be frank. It needed something more majestic, but I supposed I shouldn’t been surprised. There were lots of ideas in this album, but I never felt in any danger of being enveloped in any sort of intricate pattern.
I listened to “The Sixth Extinction” a few times in the hope that something would click but it was always as if something is missing. For comparison and, I have to say, greater enjoyment, I put on Gehenna’s “WW” album, which is vaguely comparable in style, and found myself completely immersed and hating the world as usual. By contrast, I just listened to “The Sixth Extinction” passively and ultimately its inability to arouse me led me to the sensation of indifference and disappointment.
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http://www.pictonian.records.free.fr
http://www.myspace.com/pictonian
