Ecr.Linf, after Voltaire's phrase "Écrasons l'infâme" ("Cush the infamous") used in the Age of Enlightenment as part of a movement fighting obscurantism, is a black metal project founded in 2023 by Krys Denhez (vocals) and Dorian Lairson (guitar). They were soon joined by Jiu Gebenholtz on bass, Jean Lassalle on keyboards and Rémi Sefarino on drums. The result is Belluaires, due for full release on 22 March.
It may take several listens to fully immerse yourself in the world we're entering, but one thing stands out from the outset: Krys's shrieks may occasionally be interspersed with clean vocals, but they are above all at the service of lyrics that are always audible and comprehensible, which is rare enough (in this kind of music) to be worth highlighting. It's this touching exposure of vulnerability that serves as a bridge between the work and us, creating an immediate dialogue with our own emotions. It's a technique that admirably serves the purpose of the piece: to analyse our own darkness, digest it and then transform it in order to move forward, both on our own scale and on the scale of the world.
Beyond the heartbreakingly sincere vocals (the end of Ultime Projection leaves us speechless), the beauty of the songwriting envelops us in an almost poetic catharsis, following the rhythms of melodies that seek to impact without suffocating, in a restrained violence imbued with a definite emotion. This highly inventive cocktail can mix very heavy guitars (as on the brilliantly powerful Le Tribunal de l'Âme) with, for example, a waltz on the disconcerting La Danse des Crânes, which conjures up the skeletons of our ancestors on the sound of an accordion, their ghosts dancing melancholically before our eyes.
Like any successful piece of art, all this work, which forms a little jewel of darkness wrapped up in a more than successful case (the artwork is by Dorian Lairson), knows how to naturally take a back seat for a result that is ultimately human, limpid and accessible. We appreciate the hybrid nature of this ensemble, whose many faces end up as one, silhouetted against the harmonious sizzle of Feu Pâle : our very own. It's safe to say that this is one of the most interesting albums of the year.
