Northern wanderlust black metal band Sorcier des Glaces announces its fifth album, Ritual of the End, to become available shortly through Galy Records. This Quebecois act made a name for itself in the internally collapsing underground by crafting lengthy melodies in windswept melancholic formations, despite the trends of the time which it rebuked.
According to the band, “Sorcier des Glaces strikes back with a fifth full-length album, featuring seven rituals of ice and darkness. Seven blackened hymns of Cold Primitive Metal from the northern desolate landscapes of Quebec. Old school to the bone, yet melodic, powered by a crushing metallic production. Ritual of the End features a cover of the mighty Samael, rightfully chosen from their 1992 album Blood Ritual.”
For those who like metal in the spirit of the past, which in black metal is the triumph of the pragmatism of nature over the mental fog of human social good intentions, Sorcier des Glaces offers the spirit of the past without rehashing specific acts or, worse, forming a lowest common denominator out of the aesthetic of the classics to imitate and flog to death. Instead, the band write naturalistic melodies which expand into lengthy songs capturing the dark, solitary, empty and feral mindset of black metal as opposes the neurotic chattering self-obsessed brain of the normal person today. Like past Sorcier des Glaces albums, Ritual of the End will most likely be artistically controversial in that most will flee it, but for those who desire the old school mentality it will be a rare delight.
Track listing:
01. Under The Moonlight
02. Morbid Ritual
03. Snowland
04. The Frozen Sword of Midnight
05. The Sign of the End
06. Macabre Operetta
07. Slumbering in the Dark
If you enjoy Sorcier des Glaces, check out these other bands from Quebec (just to name a few): Monarque, Neige Éternelle, Neige et Noirceur, Morgue, Svalbard and Sombres Forêts.
Its almost a guarantee that none of those bands are as good. Stop shopping scenes.
I really enjoyed their debut album but the latest one The Puressence of Primitive Forests, was a little too sugary for me.
Russian black metal bands like Forest and Branikald seem to work the style a tad better.
What’s this sites take on Branikald and Forest? I’ve been wondering that for a while now.
Puressence was too sugary because it was influenced by all the ear candy from Ukraine and the “Cascandian” black metal that sounds like girl bands with more distortion. Black metal got weak with candy-rock from Drudkh and Old Wainds at the same time it lost its guts over Wolves in the Throne Room and Weakling. All of this music is shit, ¡black metal is not candy!
There’s no overproduced bombast up north, and many Quebecois black metal bands slow it down to the mid-tempo zone, resulting in a sort of militaristic march. Sorcier des Glaces is a good ambassador of the style—rich in atmosphere.
SORCIER DES GLACES – interview
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quote:
“I don’t listen to newer bands, or only few ones. I don’t like it anymore. I think black metal died in 1996 or 1997[…] That’s the reason why I can’t call Sorcier Des Glaces “Black Metal”, I don’t have the right to call it that way.”
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source:
http://aristocraziawebzine.blogspot.mx/2011/10/sorcier-des-glaces-english-version.html
Respect
Black metal was dead by 1996, that much is certain. By 1997 the bands of interest had dwindled and it was mostly older acts. By 1999 when Demoncy released Joined in Darkness it was a lone voice of reason in the howling inferno of stupidity.
Don’t forget Nagelfar’s Hünengrab im Herbst in ’97 and Srontgorrth in ’99.
Nagelfar was reviewed back in 2009 Sadistic Metal Reviews.
If you are interested read on:
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https://www.deathmetal.org/news/sadistic-metal-reviews-10-18-09/
Go back to M-A and review bands nobody’s heard of.
Best broaden your horizons….
Go to Bitterman’s M-A page and tell me the vast majority of the bullshit bands he tags zeroes onto aren’t a waste of his energy. Tear down nu-carcass, that deafhaven shit and the emo black metal. Blow Torch Sodomy? Who the fuck are they? Metalcore/brocore/whatever has been beaten into the ground. Go after the real frauds, is my point.
Who are the real frauds, in your view?
Anthrax for starters, is one. Why the fuck anyone back then considered them one of the BiG Four bands is beyond me. They were always behind and following trends. There’s always one Anthrax in every generation: Satyricon for example for black metal. Cradle of Filth, Krallice, Mastodon, Gojira, Meshugah, Avenged Sevenfold, Trivium, Tool but most importantly, all the classic bands that sold out!!!
Mastodon were always pretty interesting. Have you ever listened to their albums? Those guys showed great musicianship on their first two albums.
Anthrax had more balls than Krallice could dream of. They got into the Big Four by being from New York which is where most of the music journos live.
Outside of what has been well covered by DMU/DLA:
1) Ne Obliviscaris
2) everything buzzing around Metal-Sucks.net
3) Proclamation (and every other “total support” NWN war metal band).
4) The entire genre of “folk metal.” The kind of pseudo death metal nonsense that uses populist folk melodies.
I like his page anyway. It’s like a real gem in the world of madness. I can’t help myself giggling every time I revisit his reviews.
I am not bitterman. I am Even More Bitter Man. He is still too kind to bands that are darlings of the underground. All sacred cows must die on my blade! Nobody else is gonna tell you that outside of Mental Funeral, Autopsy is worthless… that Death was shit past the first three albums… that Morbid Angel’s decline began with Domination… that Metallica was crap after the second album… that Slayer’s Reign in Blood is actually not all that good… all the darlings and sacred cows must die.
Actually I think Leprosy and Spiritual Healing are pretty shitty, and Scream Bloody Gore is not that good either. I agree about Autopsy though.
“Reign in Blood is actually not all that good”
I’m aware that RIB has a softer production than their earlier albums, but would you care to explain why it’s not that good? I think it’s aged beautifully.
In my opnion, the first and the last track stand out so much. Everything inbetween compare to them seem pale.
Slayer’s first three releases are mystical, and not just lyrically; there is wonder, horror, and intrigue of otherworldly proportions in those records. Reign in Blood is not just softer in terms of production, but in its aesthetic and overall intent; it’s mundane in comparison to Hell Awaits. Nearly all of the grandeur is gone, save for Raining Blood; all that’s left is speed and good riffs, with no undertone of real menace. Hell Awaits is demonic; Reign in Blood is just a bit naughty.
Another way to put this: it’s more functionalist across the board, where SNM/HA were more Romanticist.
Maybe you should change your name to Not So Bitter Man (NSBM)? Anything on Reign in Blood or Master of Puppets is better than Death’s best moments.
SDG is about as “sugary” as a hot cup of black coffee. Just because it has a recognizable guitar melody doesn’t mean they’ve gone Alcest. Hey, I think there’s a few dozen new bands that sound like Onward to Golgotha but less distinctive, why not check them out instead?
No way! Father Befouled and Cruciamentum are crap. That Teitanblood album was boring too. This song is good though.
Cruciamentum is not crap, it’s a better Incantantion worshiper out there.
Then I’d probably like you even more…
I’d say even Death’s first three are not that impressive at all. The first is an updated version of Possessed. It’s boring after a few tracks because of the simple structure. The third are repeating the second.
I’ve been told by a first hand source that Avzhia have almost finished recording their new album, and that’s the only release of this year I’ll be looking for.