Eikenskaden "The Black Laments Symphonie" CD

France is just beginning to adopt the extreme form of music known only as black metal. However, listening to their music is just as depressing as listening to the current black metal scene of Poland, Norway, or any other country. 90% of the bands are generic, and don't even show on the radar of an overly populated music scene. Eikenskaden happens to be one of the few French black metal bands/artist that actually has its own distinct sound.

Eikenskaden consists of one man (to my knowledge), and what sets him apart from his other brothers in metal is his attention to detail. He crafts a melody, despite the fact that songs lack the verse-chorus pattern. Unlike other black metal bands, listening to Eikenskaden's music actually does put the listener in a mood of despair and sorrow.

This Frenchman also plays a mean guitar. He is one of an already rare breed- a black metaller that can actually play guitar. He plays it in a style similar to Michael Romeo or Yngwie Malmsteen- classical music shows a heavy influence- and each solo sounds perfectly in key, it never wanders like most other death metal or black metal guitar solos. Do not despair though, there is plenty of tremolo chord work, as well as the almost vital blastbeats.

However, the aforementioned parts are the weakest. The drums are way too high in the mix, so the guitars are at a constant conflict with the booming double bass. Because of this, the vocals are hard to pick out, especially since he uses a phone-like filter for his voice.

Despite those minor shortcomings, it seems Eikenskaden is the only black metal artist with a sense of humor, despite it's macabre intent. With the blatant horrible grammar on the song "There is 666 trees in my forest," and the sequel song "I'll go for another walk over my," and the so-stereotypical-it-hurts black metal love song "She's waiting for me behind a tree.

Sample: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSZjSw7d_jM