Review Summary: Belenos charges towards the mountaintop of atmospheric black metal.
There are a few boxes that need to be checked in order to make a successful atmospheric black metal album for me personally. The riffage needs to soar epically over the entire duration of the album, the vocals need to have some sort of trollish, triumphant aspect to them and maybe most importantly, the production needs to sound NATURAL. By natural I mean that I like my atmospheric black metal to sound like it was recorded in a deep, dark forest with signs of civilization being many miles away. Luckily for all black metal fans, the mad Frenchman Belenos’ new album
Egor checks all of the boxes.
Belenos are veterans in the black metal scene at this point. Their 2002 album
Spicilege is one of the best black metal albums of all time, seamlessly blending razor sharp black metal riffage with soothing folk passages and a medieval atmosphere.
Egor puts more of a modern spin on things with a hazy and windy production sound and riffage that is more pronounced. What I mean is that while the instruments sound like they were recorded during an inspiring thunderstorm, they’re all extremely clear in the mix while maintaining a semi-lofi aura.
The way Belenos manages to tie in old and modern ways of doing things really puts this album over the top. The nuances in the production value really helps all of the instruments breathe and shine in their own ways. This ties in to the breathtaking vocal performance that sounds like an evil wizard taking out his wrath on anyone who dares to listen. Snarling and shrieking and even some clean singing will grace your ears and leave you in awe that a man can make those noises come out of his body.
It’s really impressive that Loïc Cellier, the original and only remaining member of Belenos, managed to do all of this by himself. Everything sounds so monstrous and epic that you’d think it was 7 guys playing on this album. All of the ghastly riffage, mountains of blasts and the horrendously awesome vocals are a testament to the man’s talent and passion. Atmospheric black metal is a dime a dozen these days and
Egor will remind everyone that Belenos is still a force to be reckoned with almost a quarter of a century since its inception.
