The Quiet Man in the Corner

CanwllCorfe · 04-24-2010, 09:06 PM

Atmospheric Depressive Suicidal Black Metal:

Gris - Il Était Une Forêt...
Label : Sepulchral Productions
Release : December 20th, 2007
Songs: Il Était Une Forêt..., Le Gala Des Gens Heureux, Cicatrice, Veux-tu Danser?, Profonde Misanthropie, La Dryade

Another one of those Saturdays where no one, including you, feels like doing anything except sleeping. I woke up at 1 in the morning out of a weird dream that (like all my dreams) took place at night. I felt strange and out of it like I was still in the mindset of a dream where everything looked and felt foreign. I've always had a longing to recreate these strangely specific feelings that I experience in dreams. This was the soundtrack. I looked at the album art, listened to the music, and it just clicked.

I've always had a bizarre and innate fascination with dark imagery. I remember hearing a story about a witch and while I was listening, looked in a window at a jacket holder and felt terrified. "The witch lives right in there". I felt so apprehensive and yet so interested; this constant tug of war between the two was confusing for a 6 year old. The apprehensiveness would subside as the interest would become more and more intense. This is the same way I feel about this CD and most Black Metal; it's a genre based around and built on darkness and dark imagery. Satanism, depression, suicide, death, etc. There's so much negativity that for most people would immediately turn most people off, but it's this stark negativity that keeps me so interested like the confused 6 year old version of my own self. For the record, I still love scary stories and dark imagery.

This album is one of the best produced DSBM albums I've heard in awhile. This doesn't necessarily make it "better" though, because some bands WANT their albums to sound like they dropped their demo tape in the mud and stepped on it repeatedly. Gris use an immense amount of atmosphere that set them apart from most DSBM bands. Not only do they use it well, but it adds a HELL of a lot to the music itself. As I've said repeatedly, I go by feeling, so atmosphere is the #1 thing when it comes to what I listen to. Every song is dark and foreboding and some seemed to build in intensity like the title track "Il Était Une Forêt...". Then something interesting happened.. "La Dryade" came on. And instead of what I expected, just another fantastic DSBM track filled with an immense amount of atmosphere, it's purely classical. Both violin and piano played by Icare; half of Gris. It doesn't sound disjointed from the rest of the release because it carries on the darkness that's abound in the rest of the album. Yet another release to add to my discography for the attempts at recreating the darkness that myself, and 6 year old self, are so attracted to. 9/10

04-24-2010, 09:06 PM	#11 (permalink)
CanwllCorfe Quiet Man in the Corner Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Pocono Mountains Posts: 2,480	Atmospheric Depressive Suicidal Black Metal: Gris - Il Était Une Forêt... Label : Sepulchral Productions Release : December 20th, 2007 Songs: Il Était Une Forêt..., Le Gala Des Gens Heureux, Cicatrice, Veux-tu Danser?, Profonde Misanthropie, La Dryade Another one of those Saturdays where no one, including you, feels like doing anything except sleeping. I woke up at 1 in the morning out of a weird dream that (like all my dreams) took place at night. I felt strange and out of it like I was still in the mindset of a dream where everything looked and felt foreign. I've always had a longing to recreate these strangely specific feelings that I experience in dreams. This was the soundtrack. I looked at the album art, listened to the music, and it just clicked. I've always had a bizarre and innate fascination with dark imagery. I remember hearing a story about a witch and while I was listening, looked in a window at a jacket holder and felt terrified. "The witch lives right in there". I felt so apprehensive and yet so interested; this constant tug of war between the two was confusing for a 6 year old. The apprehensiveness would subside as the interest would become more and more intense. This is the same way I feel about this CD and most Black Metal; it's a genre based around and built on darkness and dark imagery. Satanism, depression, suicide, death, etc. There's so much negativity that for most people would immediately turn most people off, but it's this stark negativity that keeps me so interested like the confused 6 year old version of my own self. For the record, I still love scary stories and dark imagery. This album is one of the best produced DSBM albums I've heard in awhile. This doesn't necessarily make it "better" though, because some bands WANT their albums to sound like they dropped their demo tape in the mud and stepped on it repeatedly. Gris use an immense amount of atmosphere that set them apart from most DSBM bands. Not only do they use it well, but it adds a HELL of a lot to the music itself. As I've said repeatedly, I go by feeling, so atmosphere is the #1 thing when it comes to what I listen to. Every song is dark and foreboding and some seemed to build in intensity like the title track "Il Était Une Forêt...". Then something interesting happened.. "La Dryade" came on. And instead of what I expected, just another fantastic DSBM track filled with an immense amount of atmosphere, it's purely classical. Both violin and piano played by Icare; half of Gris. It doesn't sound disjointed from the rest of the release because it carries on the darkness that's abound in the rest of the album. Yet another release to add to my discography for the attempts at recreating the darkness that myself, and 6 year old self, are so attracted to. 9/10 __________________ Your eyes were never yet let in to see the majesty and riches of the mind, but dwell in darkness; for your God is blind.