Vehemency Horna’s mainman Shatraug keeps himself busy with a plethora of black metal bands, ranging from the depressive landscapes of Mortualia to the old school doom filthiness of Sinisterite. Foudre Noire, comprised of him and Nox from United Kingdom, is Shatraug’s take on space themed black metal, and quite a pleasuring assault it is. One of the only problems on The Dark Gods, in fact, is that it only occasionally sounds spacey, but nonetheless, The Dark Gods offers some great riffage in the form of two long compositions, spanning from 16 to 21 minutes respectively.

The first part kicks in with mid-tempo riffing and evolves rather slowly. The sound is raw, almost rehearsal-like but still warm. The guitar sound is a massive wall in the listener’s ears, bringing those hypnotic, repetitive riffs minute after minute. Some breakdowns are present, but not as often as on the second song which starts clearly faster, then later breaking down into some guitar-only parts that remind me of Blut Aus Nord’s debut. This second piece stands above the first one with its more interesting variation, AND the more spacey sound in the form of distant, weird key notes towards the end of the track.

If you enjoy Horna’s take on long, brooding compositions such as the second disc of Sanojesi Äärellä, The Dark Gods might be your thing. Nothing groundbreaking is to be expected but this is definitely a worthy investment for those into Shatraug’s many projects. Lyrics are provided in the CD booklet, which is a definite plus. It would be interesting to know if Foudre Noire was only a one-time project or will there be continuation - I, at least, would be willing to hear more.