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PARAMNESIA
Paramnesia

Les Acteurs de l’Ombre Productions (2014)
Rating: 7/10

French black metal magicians Paramnesia have finally released their full-length opus, comprised of creeping, eerie black metal. It’s been quite a wait when one considers that these guys formed back in 2005, and have only more recently managed an EP (2013’s Ce Que Dit La Bouche D’Ombre) and a split project with Unru (2014). And so, with their career being a void, I was anxious to clamp my ears upon this unholy din, and I am not disappointed.

My first issue though, which I must address first and foremost, is the poor production. Yes, I know this is meant to be dissonant black metal, but none of the instruments seem to grab your attention and all seem to work in some stuffy mess.

Vocally, there’s nothing alarming or original about the mournful wails, sorrowful yelps and miserable cries of agony, and so in a sense Paramnesia are just another depressive black metal act. I know so little about the band but like so many black metal groups, Paramnesia remain more effective with the slower approach, where the guitars seem to exude an air of grey malevolence and the drums hit harder as they emerge through the smog. I guess fans of Burzum and the like will enjoy the melancholic seething this album offers, because the instruments act as one vast icy impenetrable wall.

The album runs for just over 40 minutes but only offers two tracks, the first being ‘IV’ and the second entitled ‘V’, the pair the brainchild Pierre Perichaud, who is responsible for the grim vocal wails. Even so, if you can draw the curtains for a short while and lose yourself in this regressive slab of misanthropy then you might actually enjoy it, because at times this is a real ominous lump of black metal driven by ambient effects as well as those abrasive guitars and harsh drums.

‘IV’ is very much a sum of two parts, the first half being the standard negative black metal woefulness and the next a simmering, sprawling soundtrack of grim noir. ‘V’ is similarly evocative; it opens with a stark drum plod of doom-laden quality, and then suddenly races into a pit of white noise. In typical hideous black metal style the icy guitars come in thick waves of gloom, and the drums just go hammer and tong to accompany the remote, suicidal vocals. The agony of the vocals is king here, but the whole experience is one of pure disdain and pure contempt for life as the echoes of melody waft through the snow without ever showing full presence, as if it were some loitering banshee in the gales.

This is a dismal affair but a record as epic as it is scornful and mournful, and for that I take my black hat off to Paramnesia. It won’t be to everyone’s taste, but a majority of black metal is like that anyway. If you are a fan of rather depressive, cold and rainy black metal, however, then why not give this one a try?

Neil Arnold

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