Trou Noir ‎"Echoes In Black Holes" CD

Dunkel - Screams From Black Holes
Monork - Tunes Of The Void
Worbid - Cosmic Vibrations

The first demo by the trio Trou Noir is a mesmerising and spine-tingling work of cold ambient black metal. Right from the start, you are thrust into a deep nightmare universe of stark black atmosphere, blurry guitars and the most horrific rasping banshee vocals. The music transfers from one repetitive set of buzzy guitar riffs to another, the percussion changing accordingly as well, with no apparent over-arching theme so the whole recording comes across as one work of inter-locking cycles of riffs.
Guitars and vocals are the most outstanding elements of Trou Noir's style: the strings are rough and fuzzy around the edges but the sound is strong, resonant and bluesy in tone; and the vocals, washed and blurry though they can be, are deranged and filled with shrieking terror. The drumming is basic with few frills but provides just enough rhythm and structure to the guitars, that they can take centre stage. As the recording progresses, the sticks' contribution improves with blast beat rhythms just after the halfway point. Plenty of black space abounds in the music, giving it an uncompromising air.
Grimness, blackness, desolation and despair dominate the entire work. There is an unmistakable air of nihilism and it's not hard to believe, especially when you consider the band's choice of artwork to grace the demo's sleeve cover, that Trou Noir's musical philosophy considers the universe as essentially hostile and malevolent towards humans, and life as meaningless and absurd. In this worldview, the realisation that life leads to death, and death offers no more comfort than life does, leads to eternal anguish, suffering and madness.
If ever there were an argument that less is more, this demo is a powerful one: the music can be simple but its impact is strong and even devastating at times. The sense of emptiness and despair can be overwhelming. This album is best heard at night but listeners need to have a constitution that can empathise with the agony expressed yet not be so overcome that they can't bear it.

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