Décembre Noir – The Renaissance of Hope (Uxoricide With Feeling Melodic Doom)

 

Yeah check it out, I can use big words you just had to look up. I had nothing else to go on and the cover spoke to me. Pheewww shit is this good. I normally avoid bands with this max exposure and fan power, but Décembre Noir are too good to pass up and I haven’t given good old Stefan (head of Lifeforce Records) a review in awhile because he carries such heavy-hitters and doesn’t need a positive review from some scumbag to verify himself. Dude has always had a knack for finding the best, but he’s so damn humble about it, jeez. Anyway so these guys I’ve heard the legends of before, but I decided to take a taste since dude drowning his wife or something on the cover put so much soul into it.

   

The Renaissance of Hope has rekindled the small flame resting inside of me waiting to ignite a whole fooking forest in the name of melodic doom metal, a genre which often tries to hard to sound emotionally deep but comes off as struggling. I expected the best here, however, for two reasons; one, it’s Lifeforce, and two, these guys already have a huge fan base. There has to be a reason for that, sometimes. Sometimes it’s just herd mentality, here it is a herd you’ll want to join to the slaughter. Décembre Noir are masters at crush and acoustics, which are central requirements to melodic doom. Can your riffs inspire sadness and yet can you also remove distortion while still keeping form? It’s a resounding yes here, with some of the most emotionally charged passages I’ve heard in awhile with a deep, tomb-like resonance that fits the style exceedingly well. Makes me totally bummed the limited vinyl is already sold out WTF but here’s hoping I can nab one.

 

Décembre Noir Official Facebook

Décembre Noir– The Renaissance of Hope
Lifeforce Records
Cover Art: Stephan Hünniger
5 / 5