J’adore le scène de Québec – cela a toujours été le cas, et cela ne changera jamais. At least, not as long as labels like Sepulchral Productions continue releasing material by superb acts from out there. This excellent label focuses on local bands, especially francophone. A small selection: Forteresse, Utlagr, Gris, Borgne, Sombre Fôrets or Neige Et Noirceur. Please also check out the recently posted review on the self-called Neige Éternelle-album (see update June 25th).
Another project that has its releases done through this label is Monarque, returning four years after the former full length, Ad Nauseam, and three years after the mini-album Messe Noir. The trio (Monarque, Bardunor and Atheos; Bardunor, by the way, is also involved with another Quebec-based band, Csejthe, which did release the album Réminiscence very recently via Eisenwald; review posted June 2nd, for the interested ones) still brings a rather classic form of somewhat melancholic and Nordic-inspired Black Metal, slightly epic and misty. The main tempo is fast, mainly because of the intense rhythm section, and the whole gets atmospherised by grim, snowy keyboard lines (yet not of the bombastic-symphonic kind; rather covering the whole in a mystic / mysterious veil).
Remarkable too is the excellent cover of another Québec-based band, Frozen Shadows (song: Au Seuil Des Ténèbres) (FYI: this band did the very first release on Sepulchral an eternity ago). Since Frozen Shadows are one of my favorite bands from the Canadian scene, and since this re-interpretation is of a superb quality, I am glad to be able to enjoy this material!
Despite a total lack of originality (the whole even includes the evident acoustic passages), Monarque are another act with highly qualitative compositions, and the appropriate sound (read: raw and unpolished) gives completion.
Duration: thirty seven minutes.