Review Summary: Not devoid of promise, but far from realizing it
Neant starts off pleasantly enough, with "Quitter ceux qui étaient déjÃ* partis" setting the scene for a promising, if very familiar sounding atmospheric black metal record. Sadly, it all goes downhill fast. While the first song starts off with neat atmospheric guitars and lush melodies, the two following cuts (and to a lesser effect, the opener’s second half as well) fail to capitalize on the momentum set, serving as little more than filler. If you take into account that the whole album is only 32 minutes long, that is unacceptable. The record quickly sets into a comfortable pace – alas, that pace be plodding. Coupled with a severe drought of anything interesting happening instrumentally, instead of flying by and serving as a brisk piece of atmospheric black metal,
Neant ends up being a bit of a chore to get through. The guitars and overall atmosphere aren’t hypnotic enough to engulf the listener, the riffs themselves sound recycled, and even when Atrum Tempestas try to change things up by introducing clean piano or taking a doomier route for a bit, the alterations fail to inject any sort of additional energy or intrigue into the narrative. The album seems to be stuck in an inferno where its in-song transitions don’t come off naturally, while its more long-winded parts don’t sound particularly interesting either.
Neant means nothingness in French, and fittingly, it manages to invoke zero emotions in me.
While I’ve certainly heard worse, I’ve also heard a lot better. There’s nothing about
Neant that convinces you to get it above any other atmospheric black metal record, which is a shame, because conceptually, the introspective approach of the band could in theory be transformed into some really interesting music. It hasn’t happened on this album though, and until the two-piece come out with a more coherent, inspiring record, to me they’ll be just another band playing atmospheric black metal.
