Quebec's Forteresse. Their last album, the more ambient Par Haute Bois Et Vastes Plaines, kind of crept up on me. Initially I had thought of it as a good but not great album but it ended up in my albums of the year and one of my most listened to pieces. I kept wanting to go back to the place they had conjured. So, yes, I was very pleased when this came my way.
From the outside in, though, this is a different beast. The Autumnal colours of the cover are in stark contrast to previous black and white images used and call up thoughts of pastoral Drudkh. I thought more folk intrusions, musical images of farmers and blood in wells, that kind of thing.
Well, no. Not really.
'Silence d' Octobre' sets the scene with an echoing, sombre sound on keyboards and spoken words which ends suddenly with the harsh fall of ' Le Triomphe De Douze'. If you want reference points, think first album ...In The Woods and the cascade riffs of classic Burzum with high, keening guitar melodies blown like leaves though cold air. Vocals howling deep in the swirl. Atmosphere simply engulfing you. That style.
Insularity. It is the first word that came to mind as this album really kicks off. Insularity. It was one of the cornerstones of Black Metal back in the day and Forteresse make me realise that it still is. The 'orthodox' sound is still about, still with us but all too often falls over because that one cornerstone is missing. Not so this Quebecois cult; every fibre of this album is built with no concern paid to what is happening or has happened elsewhere, all attention is instead turned inwards towards their beloved Quebec. Insularity, see? It can lead to staleness, to endless repetition, or to a pure vision and an atmosphere so strong that you want to return to that place again and again.
Which are Forteresse?
Oh, they entice you back.
It won't be for everyone. To some they will no doubt sound like a one riff per ten minute song band. They have that style superficially, but firstly every riff here is memorable and individual, every scything melody line gripping. The wall of drum battery, too, works to perfection; every subtle shift to the pattern, each kickstart to the song propels it on and maintains the energy and intent rather than allowing it to fall into simple repetition. The keyboards are, in comparison their last studio offering, severely reduced, the emphasis heavily on a harsher guitar focussed atmosphere and this shift is superbly done. Faster songs like ' La Lame Du Passé' give way to more downbeat moments such as ' Mon Esprit Rôde Toujours' giving a seasonal ebb and flow to the album, too.
There are rustic interludes: Here the sounds of a fiddle on a farm or at market, there rainfall or the crackle of campfire and the violin once more but each time they are simply engulfed by the black wave, like the land and history itself reclaiming them and laying bare the bleak but beautiful reality of those idyllic images, the nature and land behind them
You see, this music does conjure images and provoke thoughts. It brings down a mist to isolate the listener and then lays out the harsh face of the land before you.
Distinctly, determinedly, definitely their own people, Forteresse have produced something old and profound with Crepescule d'Octobre. Black Metal fans take serious note. An excellent seasonal vintage.
http://www.sepulchralproductions.com
Gizmo
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