Top Bar
Musique Machine Logo Home ButtonReviews ButtonArticles ButtonBand Specials ButtonAbout Us Button
SearchGo Down
Search for  
With search mode in section(s)
And sort the results by
show articles written by  
 Review archive:  # a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

La Breiche - Le Mal Des Ardents [Cold Spring - 2017]

French Pagan Folk pioneers Arexis and Lafforgue (of Stille Volk) have teamed up to form La Breiche. Their debut album, Le Mal Des Ardents, is a concept album about terror, fear, and balance. Feeling like something lifted straight out of time, Le Mal Des Ardents makes insteresting use of archaic sounds and feelings and places them into a modern language.

Cinematic in tone, Le Mal Des Ardents aims to tackle the fears and paranoia surrounding witchcraft in archaic Europe. Making use of traditional instruments, La Breiche adds an authenticity that greatly adds to the gravity of the recording. Flowing through seven tracks, Le Mal Des Ardents mixes these traditional instruments with light, modern, dark ambient styling. This approach sees La Breiche at their creative and highly evocative best. However, this cinematic style often lends itself to overindulgence. The chanting vocals, while more likely proper for the period in which this album represents, often feel hokey and break the seriousness put forth by the engaging music. Thankfully, though, there are far more elements of primal dread and fear of the local unknown than there are distracting outbursts. Beginning with the eponymous track and lightly drifting through the dirty, medieval forests to the closer, "L'Antre Du Pesteux," Le Mal Des Ardents starts on the surface in a very human world, and eventually descends into the underworld to a place that those not possessing magic cannot dwell. Their use of modern equipment to capture these otherworldly tones works well against the grounding sounds of traditional instrumentation, and this tonal juxtaposition furthers the dichotomies that La Breiche introduces on Le Mal Des Ardents.

Like a glimpse back into an uncertain time, La Breiche's debut, Le Mal Des Ardents, captures the unease of the unknown. Technology will come along and help remove some fears, but it's nature is inherent and persistent. Whether old or new, some things are unshakable from the human condition. La Breiche does well in capturing this fear with their interesting use of sonic juxtaposition

Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5

Paul Casey
Latest Reviews

La Breiche - Le Mal Des Ardents
French Pagan Folk pioneers Arexis and Lafforgue (of Stille Volk) have teamed up to form La Breiche. Their debut album, Le Mal Des Ardents, is a concept album...
290324   Piranha - Piranha(DVD)
280324   Typhoon Club - Typhoon Club(B...
270324   Jerzy Skolimowski Collection ...
260324   Latex Choker - Sealed
260324   Occlusion - 59: No Input Wall
260324   Nihil Impvlse - Anabasis
260324   Marta Forsberg - Sjunger För...
260324   The New Boy - The New Boy( Th...
250324   The Stargazer’s Assistant - ...
250324   Liza Lim - Annunciation Trip...
Latest Articles

The Music of Clay Ruby & Burial H...
Over the last couple of decades Wisconsin native, Clay Ruby has been creating some of the world’s finest dark electronic music under the Burial Hex mon...
280324   The Music of Clay Ruby & Buri...
290224   Sutcliffe No More - Normal Ev...
100124   Occlusion - The Operation Is...
181223   Best Of 2023 - Music, Sound &...
051223   Powerhouse Films - Of Magic, ...
181023   IO - Of Sound, Of Art, Of Exp...
210923   Lucky Cerruti - Of Not so Fri...
290823   The Residents - The Trouble W...
110723   Yotzeret Sheydim Interview - ...
250523   TenHornedBeast - Into The Dee...
Go Up
(c) Musique Machine 2001 -2023. Twenty two years of true independence!! Mail Us at questions=at=musiquemachine=dot=comBottom