Sombres Forêts - La Mort du Soleil (2013)

Beautifully adorned by Fursy Teyssier’s dramatic cover art, today we have Sombres Forêts and their third full-length ”La Mort du Soleil”. Being a one-man band, Annatar handles all instruments in this enigmatic Black Metal release. Heavily focusing on creating lush dissonant atmospheres, for over 50 minutes this release will transport you to dark and cavernous places.

“Des Épaves” opens this release with a bleak atmosphere nicely complemented by acoustic guitars and a little taste of the madness to come as the first track bleeds into “Étrangleurs de Soleils”. This second track slowly builds up with hellish vocals and powerful guitars. All the elements in this track (and release) are very direct and emotive; the band focuses more on the raw power behind them rather overproducing them to polish them to perfection.

On “Brumes” the atmosphere reaches new heights with some shoegaze elements and an overall eeriness that is quite uncommon. This track is one of our favorites due to the fact of how raw and direct the band sounds while maintaining a lush atmospheric backdrop. Things turn even darker and more dramatic with the intro of “Au Flambeau”, a very creepy and deranged song that we can’t stop listening to.

The album reaches its musical pinnacle with the mesmerizing “L'Éther”, a track filled with interesting tempo chances and very dramatic sections. As the release winds down, “La Disparition” features more dissonant riffs and very solid drumming, something you quite not notice much as the release goes by since you are preoccupied enjoying the creepy atmospheric elements. Closing with “Effondrement”, we are left with a very emotional track that leaves you with a bleak feeling…. And a very strong desire to play this album again.

Hailing from Canada, Sombres Forêts is indeed one hell of a band/project that deserves to be heard. Annatar, the sole member behind the band, has very interesting ideas and manages to create very unique and powerful atmospheres very nicely offset by crushing screams and solid riffs. Any fan of intelligent Black Metal similar to Farsot, Fen, etc. will greatly appreciate this very solid and powerful release.

Label: Sepulchral Productions

Release: July 9th, 2013

Genre: Black Metal

Country: Canada