Kev Rowland Whenever I see the word “gator” in a musical sense, my thoughts always turn to Molly Hatchet, but before you start thinking that these guys are contemporaries from Jacksonville, Florida, let me set the record straight. Firstly these guys are French, not American, hailing from Paris, and this has little to do with good-time boogie, although there is room in the mix for some elements of that. Following on from 2011’s ‘The Great Southern Darkness’ (okay, so there is a theme at least in the recent album titles), this is their fifth album and again they are showing that there is plenty of room within black metal to expand and bring in new ideas. There are elements of sludge, blues, boogie, and a whole host more in an album that is threatening and dynamic in the traditional sense, but expanding and very wide in another.

At times very down and dirty, and at others extremely clean, this is an album that is going to excite fans of Watain and Eyehategod for example, although in many ways it is quite different to both. The production is extremely good, and allows the nuances and inflections of the bass to come through and not be lost – there are times where S is gently bending the strings, adding another dynamic to the overall sound. But there are plenty of times when it is just a full on onslaught.

Although these guys are classed as Black Metal, and rightly so in many ways, they are definitely not restricting themselves to what others may view as being what they should be doing within the genre, but instead are very much following their own path and this album is all the stronger for that. Extremely heavy, with those Southern influences being just part of the melting pot, this is going to find them a whole new group of followers. www.agoniarecords.com

UMUR "The Great Southern Darkness" is the 4th full-length studio album by French black metal act Glorior Belli. The album was released through Metal Blade Records in September 2011. After releasing their 3rd full-length studio album "Meet Us at the Southern Sign (2009)", the band actually wrote material enough for a full album, but decided that the material they had written were too far removed from their Glorior Belli sound, to release it as the 4th Glorior Belli album. Instead they opted to create the 11 as in Adversaries project and release the material as "The Full Intrepid Experience of Light (2010)" under that monicker.

...having had their avant garde metal ideas released, they have returned to the more black metal oriented Glorior Belli sound on "The Great Southern Darkness". The music is by no means "traditional" sounding black metal though as the band incorporate quite a few southern tinged stoner metal and sludge metal ideas into their otherwise extreme and at times chaotic sounding black metal. The vocals are mostly harsh and raspy, but there are a couple of clean vocal sections on the album too. Most notably in the stoner rocking title track and in the closing track "Horns in My Patway". I´m reminded slightly of the most laidback psychadelic tinged tracks by Mastodon. While such an eclectic approach might seem disturbing to the most hardcore fans of more traditional sounding black metal, I think it´s very successful. The non black metal elements on the album makes the listening experience a more varied one and ultimately make "The Great Southern Darkness" a longer lasting and more interesting listen.

The fact that the album also features a really well sounding production, solid musicianship and strong songwriting only further enhance my opinion that "The Great Southern Darkness" is a great album fully deserving a 4 star (80%) rating.

Time Signature The secret ride to rebellion...

Genre: southern sludge black metal

French avant-garde black metallers Glorior Belli have an album on the way, entitled "The Great Southern Darkness", and, as part of the promotion of the album, a three track promo has been made available to the music press.

The three tracks on the promo are probably indicative of what the album proper will sound like, and, if they are, you can expect an album of frenzied and dissonant intense black metal combined with southern sludge rock elements.

The two first tracks on the sampler 'Secret Ride To Rebellion' and 'Negative Incarnate' have the intensity and dissonance also found on Deathspell Omega's "Paracletus", but with groovy and sludgy elements popping up, and 'Negative Incarnate' even contains a bridge with bluesy solo trades and an underlying 70s heavy rock inspired riff. The third track on the sampler is the title track of the forthcoming album is more of a dark southern rock tune with a heavy bluesy feel and few black metal elements.

Of course, I can't say if the three tracks on the sample are indicative of the overall sound of the album, but the blend of black metal and southern sludge rock certainly is interesting, and I definitely am going to check out the album when it comes out.