SETH La Morsure de Christ
By
Wendy Jasper,
Black Metal Aficionado
Saturday, September 18, 2021 @ 8:56 AM
SETH
La Morsure de Christ
Season Of Mist
France is not the first place that comes to mind when you think of black metal bands, but it is home to one of the best in the genre. The often controversial band from Bordeaux has been active since 1995 and has garnered a rather large following. The band’s debut album, 1998 ‘s Les Blessures de L’Ame put them firmly on the black metal map. The band currently consists of vocalist Saint Vincent, drummer Alsvid, guitarists Heimoth and Drakhian, bassist Esx Vnr and keyboardist Pierre Le Pape and they have put together a truly blasphemous montage of darkness and bitter force.
La Morsure de Christ translates to “the bite of Christ” and it is a return to recording in their native tongue. It’s a strong album that is spellbinding from start to finish. The title track kicks off the album and is rather venomous but certainly appropriate as an undertone to the band’s lyrical content seems to reveal the belief that a Godless world is imminent and the burning of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris was the start of this savage world view.
The band quickly moves into “Metal Noir” and we really hear a return to the band’s early sound. This album is a true homage to their roots and it takes you back to a different time and place. The mid to late 1990’s saw a surge of black metal bands on the scene; some were good, some were laughable and some were just so phenomenal you forgot about those that couldn’t compete with their sound. SETH was one of those bands.
“Sacrifice de Sang” and “Ex-Cathedrale” are morbid and expound of the decay of a dying belief system and they are not afraid to say, or rather, play what they think. The days of black metal being something hidden and feared are long gone and we can see that so many bands have stayed active in the scene and SETH certainly falls into the category of classic, second wave early ‘90s black metal.
“Hymne au Vampire (Acte III)” and “Les Oceans du Vide” are powerful in their intensity and it reminds me of a time when we traded tapes with foreign pen pals and I checked the mail daily in hope that I would have a package with new, brutal music that the mainstream metal and rock magazines just didn’t talk about. We created our own network of shared music and it is so great to be able to see those bands that we may have “found” through tape trading are still around.
The album rounds out with “Le Triomphe de Lucifer” and it is aptly titled. So many bands have become trite in their homage to the dark lord, and some have become almost comical, but not this band. They write about what they know, the processes that goes through their minds and into their music. It is ferocious in its intensity and while they have stayed under the radar for a while, this album can be hailed as their return to glory.
5.0 Out Of 5.0
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