siLLy puPPy
Just when you think the world of black metal has spread its ugly tentacles far and wide and impregnated every possible musical genre outside of its evil clutches, a new band will come along and prove you wrong and make like Ghengis Khan to conquer every possible nook and cranny of the free world. Well in the case of the Paris based VÉHÉMENCE it might be better to say Napoleon but whatever the case this blackened folk metal duo of Tulzcha (acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass, drums, synthesizer) and B.R. (vocals, lyricist) has come along and haunted the history books with its evil as fuck black metal anguish.
Formed back in 2013 VÉHÉMENCE started as a run of the mill melodic black metal band with medieval themes but after a few years of raiding the annals of time, the band returned in 2019 with “Par Le Sang Versé” which showcased a twisted fusion of medieval folk metal with all the ugliness of the black metal universe. The duo returns in 2022 with its third assault to the ears in the form of ORDALIES which finds Tulzcha dropping his drumming duties and T. Leitner joining the team to use and abuse this percussive play toys like a rabid knight in zombie mode lost in Middle Earth. Add to that a bunch of guest musicians who provide all the neo-folk goodies like a cello, flutes, a nyckelharpa and the wickedly cool sounding hurdy-gurdy.
While the folk metal shtick can be a little cheesy when taken to extremes, VÉHÉMENCE has developed a unique sound that sounds part Ensiferum, part viking metal Bathory, part Immortal and part, well unadulterated neo-medieval folk in all its acoustic majesty. ORDALIES (French for “ordeals”) is a lengthy beast swallowing up nearly an hour’s run of your precious life-force but once you run the gauntlet of ferocious rampaging black metal to the pacifying folk interludes. The folk parts appear as the shorter tracks carefully tucked in between the sprawling monstrous black metal assaults that maintain a perfect balance between the metal fury and melodic folk musical scales. Black metal wise expect the usual blastbeat driven speedfests, tremolo guitar picking with the standard evil as fuck distortion as well as raspy screamed vocals.
As far as the folk side of the equation is concerned, VÉHÉMENCE dishes out beautiful acoustically fueled medieval melodies with clean vocals and choirs as well as an atmospheric presence that makes you feel like Game of Thrones is about ready to begin. While many bands with such musical visions merely tradeoff stylistic approaches without ever really integrating the two, VÉHÉMENCE does a stellar job of not only crafting the authentic purity of each style but also by perfecting the perfect hybrid effect thus making this band one of the best black medieval folk metal bands i’ve yet encountered. Through the course of the band’s eight excellent tracks the style is perfectly integrated and all laid out so well that everything just comes together. When these two styles are unified it sounds like a viking metal tribute to Bathory.
Medieval and epic as fuck, VÉHÉMENCE delivers the goods in abundance on ORDALIES with the ferocity of the most vicious of black metal bands in the vein of Mayhem, Immortal or Taake in perfect wedlock with the melodic exaltedness of centuries old musical forms. Sounds like the perfect time heist and even though this album is an hour’s playing time, it rarely gets stale but there are a few moments where the repetition of riffs carry on a wee too long. VÉHÉMENCE has shown considerable maturation since its rather decent but nothing to blow you away debut and continues to ratchet up its presence in the relevance factor. True that medieval folk music and extreme black metal don’t sound like good bed fellows but one tiny listen to ORDALIES and you’ll surely be hooked. At least i am. Anachronistic futurism in the finest of forms.