Nightfly I’m certainly no expert on the black metal genre and until the last couple years had a fixed idea, with a few exceptions like Enslaved and Immortal for example, that it was all thin production, tremolo picked guitars and rasping vocals with unrelenting blastbeats. Since then however I’ve opened up more and discovered that it offers much more variation and discovered some real gems from the likes Hail Spirit Noir and Oranssi Pazuzu amongst others.

I recently came across Forteresse, a French Canadian black metal band and their new album Themes Pour la Rebellion. If I didn’t now know better and if ever a band were to reinforce my earlier pre-conceptions of the genre then this could be it I guess. Less lo-fi than the earlier wave of black metal but fitting in all other respects. However whilst there’s nothing groundbreaking here Forteresse have won me over with some damn catchy melodies. It is a little one-dimensional with an unrelenting wall of sound and little change of pace, i.e. fast but nevertheless the band play well and come up with some strong riffs amongst the general melee. There’s no doubt this is helped by a production that is sympathetic to the earlier days of BM but brought up to date carrying a lot more clout and bottom end.

If you’ve had your fill of no frills black metal then there’s probably not a lot for you here but if not then this has much to offer and I can see myself returning to it fairly often over the coming months and intrigued enough to check out their back catalogue.

J-Man The first thing that grabbed my attention about Crépuscule d'Octobre was, surprisingly enough, the excellent cover art. One look at this beautiful naturalistic photograph with its elegantly simple font and I was immediately intrigued - the music contained within this Forteresse album isn't terribly different from what you may expect after taking a glance at the cover, either. Raw, organic, and nature-influenced black metal is the best way to describe the music here, and Forteresse clearly aims to create brutally hypnotic atmospheres in the form of long and extended compositions with this effort. I have a tough time imagining any black metal fan who hasn't heard dozens of albums similar to this one, but there are more than enough redeeming qualities to allow me to consider this a successful observation.

Although the first two minutes or so of Crépuscule d'Octobre are dominated by atmospheric synthesizers, almost the entire rest of the album consists of tremolo-picked riffing, raw black metal aesthetics, and hypnotic drum patterns. You'll find lots of blast beats and dense walls of sound throughout this 45-minute album, but there's always a striking sense of melody in the guitar playing, even if it isn't always immediately noticeable. This, parred with the generally mid-to-fast paced tempos, makes Crépuscule d'Octobre a pretty intriguing listen from time to time, even if I do occasionally find my mind wandering throughout the album. The melodies do tend to blend into each other, and even after repeated listens, only a few stand out as particularly remarkable.

Crépuscule d'Octobre is not a flawless album due to its fairly standard approach and lack of distinction between tracks, but it has sparked my interest in investigating Forteresse a little bit further. While it may not exactly make my blood boil, this is a very good album and should undoubtedly appeal to fans of old school black metal of the more atmospheric variant. 3 stars are pretty fair in this case.

Vehemency Although I can't say I'm fully acquainted with the band's back catalogue yet due to the painful fact that time is limited and there is always so much other stuff to explore in the realms of underground black metal, I do consider Forteresse as one of the most intriguing black metal groups hailing from Canada. Pagan Hellfire might be my favourite churner of the uncompromising Canadian black arts, but Forteresse is perhaps a serious contender for that title as their sound has interestingly ranged from a harsher approach (Métal Noir Québécois) to an entirely atmospheric affair on last year's Par Hauts Bois et Vastes Plaines which was like an utter ambient record, only played with black metal instrumentation.

So into which category should their newest offering, Crépuscule d'Octobre, be pigeonholed? Admittedly, I've only heard bits and pieces of their pre-Par Hauts material, but I'd still definitely say that this upcoming effort is a tad more traditional black metal compared to the minimalist last year's album. Don't get me wrong, Forteresse still revels in a lush atmosphere of echoing, vast sounds, and a song like ”Mon Esprit Rôde Toujours” could almost fit into Par Hauts' soundscape, but the truth is that overall the album incorporates a lot more blast beats and general aggressiveness in relation to its predecessor. And though the sound is hence slightly different, I still find my mind wandering into barren landscapes, forgetting my surroundings and just sinking into the sound, just like with Par Hauts. Mission accomplished, Forteresse's atmosphere here is top notch.

I'm not sure exactly how much longevity these reverby, simple tremolo picked lead melodies have in the long run, but at least at the moment I'm greatly satisfied. Beneath the overbearing, high-end guitar notes is a steady rhythm guitar line that backs up the main melodies, and the album wouldn't be the same without it even if it's so quiet compared to any other instrument. Drums have a very natural sound to them, effeciently creating a natural feeling, especially the breathing snare drums. The vocals are your general black metal rasps which fit in like a glove, and I have nothing to complain about – not about the vocals, not about the whole album, really. Crépuscule d'Octobre might not be mindblowing but still a really successful journey in authentic black metal that should appeal to other fanatics of rather simple yet atmospheric black metal as well. Plus, just take a look at the front cover! It's brilliant, going hand in hand with the previous album's natural theme.

[ http://www.vehementconjuration.com/ ]

Vehemency When listening to Forteresse’s third album Par Hauts Bois et Vastes Plaines, I am once again reminded of the beauty of minimalism: freezing in moment and just letting the almost motionless music pour into my ears and mind. The wonders of escapism are more than welcome in the middle of my daily hustles, and this album does its job very satisfyingly. I assume that the first offering of Forteresse wasn’t leaning this heavily on ambiance, and the direction started to change to the current one on the second album, so this album shouldn’t come as a shock to those who have heard the previous output, but might disappoint some of the first album’s lovers.

Par Hauts Bois et Vastes Plaines flourishes in ambient: be it in the slow-tempo, highly atmospheric black metal of which the record mostly consists of, or in pure ambient like the second and sixth track on the album. Reverberating, slow drum beats pulse while razor-sharp yet not offensive guitar melodies appear somewhere in the distance, delivering a constant stream of tremolo. Simple, melancholic and occasionally epic melodies, enhanced by prominent, misty synths. The music is very bleak, evoking pictures of barren landscapes throughout the 36-minute playing time during which nothing radically changes: the dynamics are basically the same all the time with the exception of some climax moments and i.e. piano melodies on the fourth track. Screams are somewhere in the distance, too, fitting very well in the overall despondent atmosphere.

Taking a look at the front cover art - which is very much to my taste, by the way, including the placement of the texts - of Par Hauts Bois et Vastes Plaines tells quite much of the album already. Dividing the tracks into seven unnamed movements was a good decision from the band so that one can fully concentrate on the music as a one long piece. The album doesn’t deliver anything new - quite the opposite, remembering how crowded the area of ambient black metal is - but I find myself greatly enjoying the vast aura of the album. This is not something that I could play in every occasion, but for those quiet moments on peaceful winter evenings this is a highly appropriate release to put on.