Déhà - A fleur de peau - III - A Fire That Does Not Burn (2020)

Unleashing yet another outstanding release this 2020, today we have multi-instrumentalist Déhà with “A fleur de peau - III - A Fire That Does Not Burn”. Featuring over 35 minutes of excruciatingly effective atmospheric/depressive Black Metal, this release creates a very chaotic and yet hypnotic atmosphere that features some cool guest appearances and a very unique feeling of urgency/desperation.

The release starts with the pummeling “The Tree and the Death”, featuring a very melancholic pace combining aggressive harsh screams and dreamy clean vocals. This track also adds the angelic female vocals of Natalie Koskinen to add additional layers of atmosphere and contrast. The saxophone in “Hope for Twilight” makes it a very unique aural experience, as it is nicely added to create a very dynamic contrast to the guest vocals of Tim Yatras (ex-Austere, Germ).

Our favorite track is the doomy “Thanatos and the Sea”, a song that slowly builds up with dueling clean vocals and growls (courtesy of Carlos D'Agua) as it gets heavier and heavier. This track has that epic and yet fatalistic vibe we love from bands like old Anathema, Paradise Lost, etc. For those looking info heavier atmospherics, “I Am Not Complete” nicely opens up with a dreamy passage that furiously leads to heavy BM-esque onslaughts and crafty guitar leads of guest Nils Courbaron. This interesting combination leads to unconventional sounds that are quite enjoyable.

As a whole, “A fleur de peau - III - A Fire That Does Not Burn” is one hell of a devastating release that is beautifully crafted to deliver both agony and pain. Déhà has released over 10 albums in 2020 and yet his creativity continues to impress us, while many have been written years ago, it is still quite a feat that they all have enough good ideas to make them shine individually. If you like atmospheric/depressive Black Metal with tons of Doomy elements, this should certainly be in your radar.

Label: Naturmacht Productions

Release: August 7th, 2020

Genre: Atmospheric/Depressive Black Metal

Country: Belgium