Peste Noire
Peste Noire - Split - Peste Noire

“Since the debut of Peste Noire, I have always defended the vision of Black Metal that must incarnate in the real world, mixing art and violence like the troubadours mixed the use of weapons with the practice of poetry.”

La Sale Famine Von Valfunde, the soul and beating heart of the Peste Noire project and of that strange "nationalist anarchy" that could only be born in France, is back.

Active since 2001 with a demo titled nothing short of emblematic, Peste Noire (KPN), like it or not, remain one of the most incredible bands on the international extreme scene; their provocative and desecrating vein, extremely incorrect and blasphemous, has relegated them to a cult band from the beginning. For what concerns the artistic and biographical history of its tormented and brilliant founder, I refer to the Babel of the internet, a dense and intricate labyrinth of every possible and imaginable gossip. The socio-political message in this case is closely connected to that of the "sound," as Famine made clear from the outset...

This space, however, is dedicated to music, and I will try to speak of it. Besides the provocation and the eccentric image, outside the very canons of Black Metal from which they come, PN have brought sonic extremity to explore different territories and models, mixing the folk music of their land with genres "alien" to the classic canons of the genre. This new work was born under the wing of Militant Zone and of a certain Alexey Levkin, a crazy and extremist Russian, in turn the father of the musical project Moloth, and I will not add anything else. The title suggests a sort of division of the album itself into two parts, called respectively: traditional and degenerate part.

The first part wants our authors of a Black Metal that, all things considered, respects some of the classic canons, the opener Aux armes, like the following four tracks, will not disappoint the most loyal fans, and there will be no lack of the irony and typical ferocity of Famine in pieces like Songe viking, which ventures a bathorian tribute or in Raid èclair, featuring Levkin himself, as well as in 666 millions d’esclaves et de déchets, where the sonic chases and slowed parts will not fail to recall the best moments of the group's previous works.

The "degenerate part" begins with the announcement of a couple of French newscasts talking about PN and introduces those five tracks that once again see this team's desecrating and experimental (as well as defiant and brave) vein surface. I preface by saying that the writer is not attentive nor knows the international or French Rap scene, even less Trap, but don't worry, practically almost none of those who follow the group have these competences and there's nothing to be scandalized about... Electronic experimentation and rapping metrics were already their domain in other admirable works (such as that absolute masterpiece that is L’Ordure…) and frankly, I do not understand the many complaints I have been reading since the album's release date, this second part does not seem disconnected from the first, and it does not seem to "betray" the ambitions of Famine & co, given that the group's imprint and trademark are present up to the last note. The voice remains sharp and almost unique in its kind, the tension of the tracks holds up as in the heavy and at times very slow sonorities of Des médecins… or in the subsequent Turbofascisme, which grows listen after listen. After all, guys, here we are not listening to a late '80s Trash album, this is stuff that needs dedication, there are nuances and combinations that cannot be absorbed in any way after one and a half listens, maybe from the tube (increasingly common method unfortunately)… This review also arrives late for this reason, this is not a pop beach track, there is more for who has time and real interest. Returning to the music, Aristocrasse, already released as a single, is the absolute emblem and anthem of this second part, listen to believe! Domine concludes this umpteenth journey: a newborn's cry, rolling drums, and a mystical and, allow me, "pestilential" atmosphere slowly close the curtain on this social and musical excursus together.

Once again PN package an inspired work, far from clichés and the orthodoxy of certain specialized critics, not caring once again about anything or anyone, shouting their thoughts in a disordered and irreverent way. Here different subcultures clash but at the same time are related in vomiting on the societal model imposed by the market; Famine declared that here one breathes the air of the degraded suburbs of Kyiv, where he has been living for some time, he himself paints his vision in an intentionally offensive, theatrical, and farcical way, starting from the cover and graphic content. Not to underestimate the social conflict that his France and much of Europe experience, but to underline it and extreme it as it is, like it or not... A sense of belonging, differences, intolerance, anger, violence, decay, and pride as metropolitan streets present them to us every day, are taken up and elaborated by both the ferocity of PN and that of the banlieue rappers, with no holds barred, even low blows. A small social and sound treatise, for many also hateful and "bastard," this Split will divide and divides, as it is normal and right for it to be, some will appreciate it, for others it will take a few years, others will discard it immediately after, to each their own, after all, quoting Mr. Famine: “Honestly, I don't care. What's done is done.”