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NOIRSUAIR- THE DRAGGING POISON
THE DRAGGING POISON – Available Now via Osmose Productions. - First full-album release by French vessel Noirsuaire (created by solo artist N) after having released several singles and EPs since N founded the project in 2022. The majority of this album is created by this one-man project, accompanied by guest artists for extra mood in its atmosphere. The Dragging Poison overall is traditionalist in nature, an offering to the genre it is inspired by. It is steeped in the arcane, spectral and mythic in nature. From production to essence, it encapsulates the brutality of European black metal in all its raw grit and chaos, portraying themes of European folklore, vampirism and devil worship. Moreover, it’s an embodiment of the ‘90s French black metal movement, a birthplace of cultish entities and sorrow-struck sound.
The Dragging Poison is a well-balanced album, from its atmospheric beginnings on first track “Thousand Throats Thousand Spears”, calmed with the gothic interlude “Withering Veins” accompanied by melancholic organ playing from Mildrac. It all suits the theme and breaks up the wall of sound that the tracklist creates, while never sounding out of place. “Sworn by Sinister Wisdom” is consistent sound that awakens a trance-like listening experience. It is easy to get lost in the chaos and dwell there for the good hour. The blasting of the drums gallops through the songs, “Possessed By A Malignant Lust” ensures the intensity never ceases.
N is very talented in the craft and knows just exactly how to portray the sound in Noirsuaire as a project. The classic techniques of black metal are all there, with spoken word and hallowed shrieks paired lofting into a battle between tremolos and blast beats. The energy pulses in waves of stricken sorrows, full of chaos and spite. The album reaches into a deep chasm and fills it with pure, unfiltered noise that consumes listeners like a curse. Ritualistic voices and crunchy snarls complete the harsh, raw sound as heard in “Trance of Bedless Bones”. N’s delivery portrays the torment in the classic lyrical distortion and their true vocal range shines in ending track “Noirsuaire”. Overall, Poison is quite rigid in its tradition, rejecting modernity for a specific time for the genre and capturing it with a brutal grasp.
All in all, The Dragging Poison is a passion project referencing the sound of black metal days of old, it fits for the time it sets out to capture. It is gripping, unforgiving and unfiltered. The chaos melts seamlessly between the tracks, forming an intense and memorable experience for those well-versed with the genre.
SCORE 8/10
REVIEWED BY GhostinthearmouR