I'm a huge fan of Anorexia Nervosa's fourth and latest album, Redemption Process, so I was really happy to recognize the voice of RMS Hreidmarr on Bâ'a first album: Deus qui non mentitur.

The lyrics, in French and in verse, are dealing with the relationship between Humanity and the Divine, tainted by the selfish pride, ego, and uses of corrupted intermediaries of the former, which isn't really unexpected for black metal, to say the least.

With only 4 tracks, plus an intro and an outro, this is a short album, lasting around 30 minutes: "Titan" is brutal, "Procession" has a surprise Bible reading in the middle, "Des profondeurs je crie" is build like a pyramid, with a ramp-up, a zenith and a careful descent, "Un bûcher pour piedestal" is throbbing. Every track feels unique and thoughtfully built.

I'm usually not really into black metal, since most of the time it's a stereotypical swampy garbage low-fi, drum-blasted, puked indistinguishable satan-über-alles borborygmes propelled by wannabe pseudo-atmospheric chords. It's absolutely not the case here. Varied melodies, sometimes harsh, sometimes slow; intelligent uses of the drums; articulated and correctly enunciated thoughtful well written lyrics; orchestral and grandiose moments alternating with violent harangues; instruments shifting in and out of the spotlight, singing sounding obscure, furious desperate, mad, … often simultaneously. The album sounds whole and round, with depths likely due to the fact that while the album is pretty short, the band takes its time to lay everything down, to methodically build their songs: no downtimes, no undue lengths, only wholesome despair.

I didn't really know what to expect from this band, and was surprised by how good, meaningful and accessible they first album sounds.