The RMR crew was somewhat underwhelmed with Alcest’s latest offering back in 2024. A disheartening moment in a difficult year with a record full of promises but an annoying lack of true substance and no true metal spine left. And what does this have to do with the price of butter on this review here? Well, read on.
Thus, Zéro Absolu (absolute zero in English)1 enter the scene. Zero who? Never heard of them. And unsurprisingly so, because this outfit emerged from the remnants of the band Glaciation in 2024. The latter fell prey to some legal (or kind of legal) shenanigans of one of its former members. A story that reminds me of the still ongoing issues with Batushka. But whatever the troubles were, the members decided to wipe the slate clean and restart their efforts with a band called Zéro Absolu and their ‘debut’ album La Saignée (the bloodletting or bleeding in French).
So, when the grouchy geezers at the RMR Review Desk heard that the lineup contained members of Alcest and Regarde Les Hommes Tomber, they had – understandably – severe reservations. Little did we know that La Saignée was built on a tasty mix of Black and Post Black Metal. And Zéro Absolu surf into this battle on a pitch-black wave of rage and a blinding thirst for revenge. We read the lyrics. This is a bitter, bitter record and it takes no prisoners. An indictment of the metal multiverse and a condemnation of the world at large. Salt into open wounds? Quite so.
Those familiar with the RMR zine will know that their crew can’t resist Black Metal in French. The language just delivers this much-needed heft to the subject matter. And this isn’t something English was able to deliver to date.2 The towering fury on full display on La Saignée seems to have removed the old barriers Alcest confined itself in back in 2024. The record for sure won’t hide its close proximity to French Black Metal and masters such as Seth. And the moment the band embarks in Black Metal proper it is sepulchral and down-in-the-pit, delivered with just enough meaty gusto to please. A grimy and vile offering catering as much to the old Black Metal masters of the ’90s as it pays homage to the contemporary French adepts of the blackened arts.
But then, the Alcest influence kicks in with odd ethereal, synth-laden musings languishing lushly across the soundscape. And that – surprisingly – includes airy clean guitars that suddenly open up on you amid Black Metal fury. In other words, you’ll find meaty tremolos and burly Black Metal riffs side by side with haunting ambient acoustics and Post Metal injections. A peculiar mix of sub-styles that usually won’t mingle well.
La Saignée is a courageous record, too. The piece only contains two overly lengthy songs, the title track of some 21 minutes, and Le Temps Détruit Tout with a relatively short 13 minutes. It indeed takes some chutzpah to just deliver two giant tracks. If you don’t know what you’re doing, this will be the end of the record. But fear naught. Zéro Absolu is filled with musicians steeped in their trade. Thus, you’ll find a tasty ebb and flow of rough-hewn Black Metal and delicately constructed ethereal Post Black passages that often took our breath away. The vile rasps, snarls, and corny, even disturbingly dystopian monologues perfectly complement the rest of the offering.
Ultimately, La Saignée delivers a near-perfect mélange of Black and Post Black Metal. And it is always interesting to see what genuine emotion can achieve and this record truly gorges with it. Zéro Absolu delivered a reckoning with their enemies in metal and the world at large. With Extreme Metal as their weapon of choice, wielded at a level of mastery seldom seen to date. A retaliatory and vindictive ejection of the darkest sentiments the subconscious can cough up.
“Le métal, c’est la mort…”,3 the narrator ominously rasps at the end of the record. And by that token, he’d gladly throw humanity into the same pit at the same time. That’s yet again proof positive that a strong theme works. Together with outstanding musical craftmanship, both on harsh and ethereal planes of metal extremes, this resulted in one of the best Black Metal records of this kind on the RMR zine.
Record Rating: 9/10 | Label: AOP Records | Web: –
Release Date: 24 January 2024