• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5

I've been waiting for this album since the summer of 2016 when I saw Messe Noire (French for "Black Mass") open for Mortuary Drape in Montreal. Fast forward to two weeks ago when I attended their album release show, and finally I have a studio recording of their anti-human blackened madness (they released a tape, Messe des Morts "Live MMXVIII, with their live performance at Messe des Morts in Montreal in 2017, earlier this year). Was it worth the wait? You bet.

Messe Noire don't try to be innovative. They're largely working in the second-wave style, with the expected stuff from a band with that name, like organ music with some chatting about Satan (this sounds creepy as fuck on the album—love it). It's not about innovation, it's about attitude and delivery, and Messe Noire get that right—and then some. Powerful, heavy, fast, rage-filled, aggressive music is what they offer on this short 27-minute album. The music is raw and abrasive, but the production is pretty clean. The vocals, with some lyrics sung in English and some in French, are out of this world screeches that are right out of your worst nightmare, as if the music wasn't already an hymn to your impending doom. They don't call it anti-human black metal for nothing.

I listen to a lot of black metal (must be 150+ albums this year alone; I lost count) and this one stands out with just a few others worthy of mention in this crowded genre. If you can catch them live, do so. This stuff is even more insane live, and the guys really deliver on stage. Now I'm just hoping I won't have to wait another 6 years for the next album.