Artist: Seth
Title: Les Blessures de l'Âme (Re-Release)
Genre: Melodic Black Metal
Release Date: 22nd June 2012
Label: Season Of Mist
Album Review
SETH revisits their classic debut with the re-release of ‘Les Blessures de l'Âme.’ Originally released in 1998, the group helped pioneer a sound of a mix of Symphonic and Melodic Black Metal along the lines of SIEBENBURGEN (no female vocals this time though) and EMPEROR. The music is quite raw, but for its time provided revolutionary additions to Black Metal, such as acoustic passages and piano on ‘Le Cercle De La Renaissance’ and the ghostly keyboards that stick with listeners from the opening track ‘La Quintessence Du Mal’. Unlike most modern ‘Symphonic Black Metal’ groups today’s, which many could argue have turned the genre on its head with overdoses of keyboards and adding in clean singing to make an unintentional mockery of the raw, evil entity it presented when it stormed into Metal during the 90s, SETH made sure to make their mark by keeping a raw atmosphere and the vocals dark and twisted, but also understandable at the same time for the most part. Tracks like ‘...À la Mémoire De Nos Frère’ provide that excellent balance between raw power and beautiful melodies. Even the instrumental ‘Dans Les Yeux Du Serpent’ helped draw on that orchestral element that made EMPEROR so popular but backed it up with raw, melodic guitar to create almost a hazy atmosphere for the music but still kept a clear sound all the way through.
For the re-release, most original fans will find very little has changed. The band did not re-record any material (at least, the can be heard) and the only thing included was a new album cover and two bonus tracks. The inclusions of the two tracks are very small, but somewhat significant. ‘Corpus et Anima’ brings more acoustic passages to the table and fits in quite well with the rest of the album, even though the production is a bit rawer than some may like. ‘Les Sevices de le Peste’ is a bit too distorted to really enjoy, feeling more like a demo or cut from a live performance and takes away from the melody which was quite clear on the other tracks. Still, perhaps this is a performance to show where SETH began back with its demos and the rest of the album shows where they’ve grown to. Despite this re-release being a bit of a half-assed return to the fold for SETH rather than a whole new album altogether, most fans- new and old- would agree that it doesn’t hurt to revisit classics, and ‘Le Blessures…’ is indeed a Melodic Black Metal classic.
Tracklist
01. La Quintessence Du Mal - 8:36
02. Hymne Au Vampire (Acte I) - 5:15
03. Hymne Au Vampire (Acte II) - 4:50
04. Le Cercle De La Renaissance - 9:08
05. Les Silences d'Outre-Tombe - 7:49
06. Dans Les Yeux Du Serpent - 5:21
07. ...À la Mémoire De Nos Frère - 5:43
08. Corpus et Anima - 7:54
09. Les Sevices de le Peste - 5:57
Line-up
Vicomte Vampyr Arkames- Vocals
Heimoth- Guitars
Alsvid- Drums
Faucon Noir- Bass
Website
https://www.facebook.com/innomineseth
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 7
Sound: 7
Total: 7 / 10
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