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Like many of the best underground black metal acts, France’s NOIRSUAIRE have creatively hit the ground running since the release of their debut demo, Possessed By A Malignant Lust, in 2023. Each of the band’s subsequent four EPs has showcased a lean and focused brand of raw black metal that manages to incorporate lots of ethereal atmospherics and angular, biting guitar work and vocals that is incredibly engrossing in a way that many records in this style don’t tend to be. The duo’s latest EP Wrath Of The Silent Temples is, if anything, a far sharper and immersive release than anything else they’ve done previously, without sacrificing the harsher production and abrasive musicianship too drastically, making for a tighter and punchier effort that will still hold plenty of charm for fans of black metals sepulchral, grimier elements.
After a haunting ambient piece sets a foreboding and immersive tone, the record proper kicks off in a burst of rabid, frenetic intensity in the form of The Scourge From Kisijevo, an unflinchingly coarse and speed-driven slab of biting black metal with an overt second wave influence. Grating hooks, feral shrieks and thunderous, pummelling drums all create a dark and ferocious sound that’s significantly more robust than the vast majority of rawer black metal tracks, beginning proceedings in muscular and authoritative fashion.
At The Scream Of Porphylic Seraphs strips away the denser elements of its predecessor in favour of an acerbic and lean approach, with lighter guitar work and thinner, acidic vocals, without sacrificing any of the ominous mood or blistering pace that informed the last offering. While Waiting The Rats, another shorter instrumental piece, this time built upon the gothic pomp of expansive organs, captures the drama of the records opener whilst embracing impressively cavernous flourishes that is every bit as grand as the previous two tracks were caustic, providing a great segue between this EP’s two halves.
The Wrath Of The Silent Temples leans prominently into an abrasive and cacophonous sound that constantly teeters on the brink of chaos whilst managing to pepper in some tighter, melodic touches in amongst its more visceral and grating moments, showcasing a bellicose extremity and tempering it with far punchier moments in a way that strikes a fine balance between two distinct musical polar opposites without any jarring clashes. To Roam Among The Darkest Hounds adopts a ponderous, mid-tempo style, with percussive drums and full, weighty chords replacing the energetic and frenzied aural assaults that came before it, shifting seamlessly into a catchy piece of black ‘n’ roll with a solid groove, with this chunkier sound being counterpointed by the arid, soaring vocals and discordant bursts, standing apart from the rest of the efforts on this record whilst still being indebted to the same musical approach of faster, fiercer fair on here. Outro, one last, brief outing of driving organs in a very similar vein to While Waiting The Rats, caps proceedings off in a an epic way, albeit in a much more streamlined form than its earlier twin did.
Perhaps the closest record within NOIRSUAIRE‘s discography to Wrath Of The Silent Temples is 2024’s Black Flame Of Unholy Tradition, a similarly longer offering that boasts an impressive amount of heft and soaring hooks not unlike this most recent EP. A side by side comparison between the two shows not only a more polished mix on the latter, but arguably defter, dancing quality to the music itself, especially when it comes to the guitars, which opt for a greater hint of melody and less primal thrashing than Black Flame, a powerful and effective record that is nonetheless a little rougher around the edges when it comes to the precision of the performances.
The fact that Wrath Of The Silent Temples manages to embrace a cleaner mix whilst not losing any of the frenetic intensity or claustrophobic murk that its predecessors possessed also works in its favour, and signifies a refining and even perfecting of many of NOIRSUAIRE‘s strident, underlying brilliance rather than a jarring shift to a different style of black metal, accentuating just how feral their music can be.
Rating: 7/10
The Wrath Of The Silent Temples is out now via Khaoszophy Productions.
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The post EP REVIEW: The Wrath Of The Silent Temples – Noirsuaire appeared first on Distorted Sound Magazine.
