The French have a habit of throwing curveballs into whatever purist theme tries to assert itself in extreme metal but, even by Gallic standards, Decline Of The I is a CD-sized can of worms. First of all, this is a kick in the nuts to the ‘cvlt’ black metal brigade – taking a crowbar to anything that could be described as typically orthodox – while at the same time trying to drag the concept of black metal back to its more innovative roots where anything went as long as it was eerily ‘orrible and sounded like you’d produced it on your little brother’s Bontempi organ. It’s angry, dirty and extreme while hauling in so much else into its grime-covered mix that it’s difficult not to revel in their antagonistic approach as much as these guys quite obviously do. Rebellion lands its hobnail boots firmly amongst the corpse-painted pigeons from the outset on Lower Degree of God’s Might with a stop-start mix of audio cuts with a huge, brooding choral sample with layers of other programmed sound spliced with filthy riffs. It then develops into a well-constructed piece of ‘post’ black metal combined with industrial and electronic sweeps that feels like a shot in the arm for someone who, like me, has possibly overdosed a little too much on more straightforward ‘classic’ black metal recently.
The electronic ambience casts a desolate scene between the anguished lyrics and post-black metal atmosphere that borders on punk-aggression rather than drifting shoe gaze. Like black metal pumped with psychoactive and hyperactive drugs. But then it can’t seem to resist adding in a few breaks for a bit of doomy introspection in there too with some quieter sections that are the slightly schizophrenic counter-balance to the more deranged borderline-post-hardcore rants. A calm before the album up-swells again into mighty torrents of noise. That other French non-conformist band Folge Dem Wind springs to mind as a comparison with all their drug inspired off-the-wall attitude.
So with recruits pulled from all sorts of directions from black, death and doom metal with a hefty dose of sludge thrown in, we start to see what direction Decline Of The I, led by Vorkreist vocalist AK, is heading in. Rebellion is like having a drink thrown in your face just when you thought you were having a good time. But then finding you actually quite the feeling despite the night not quite turning out the way you expected. Then, just when you think you’re getting the measure of this eruption of sound, the band introduces the most shockingly good drum and bass crossover that I’ve heard in a long time. There are small, sweaty dance floors from trendiest Brixton to Bristol that would raise the roof over sixth track Deus Sive Musica – a rollercoaster of electronics and metal – and it’s a reminder what extreme music, in my humble opinion, should and could be all about. Total open-minded irreverence with a seriously hard, rasping kick in its tail. I’ve heard a few complaints about the lack of complexity in the riffs but to me it’s all part of the delivery here and I am, if you can’t tell, very much enjoying getting to know this album. Yes, there is a part of me that wants it to be longer or delve into more depth but that would no doubt also spoil the savage, primal kick in the teeth that Rebellion delivers.
(8.5/10 Reverend Darkstanley)
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