Funeralium - Deceived Idealism (2013)

   Funeralium debuted with their self-titled album in 2007, and since it seemed like a side project of two members of Ataraxie (Frédéric Patte-Brasseur - guitars, and Jonathan Théry - guitars, vocals), sot surprisingly the music showed plenty of similarities with Ataraxie. And for the complete view, Vincent Buisson (bass) from Mourning Dawn is also mentonable. On the side of the references to both mentioned bands, the self-titled album was like a slower, more desperate version of Ataraxie, though Ataraxie was already quite strong in those features. But a more individual perspective led to further personalized depths, and a more broken tone. It's important to mention that both bands have been strongly influenced by Bethlehem, and this could be sensed in Funeralium's music with similar intensity like in Mourning Dawn. 

   Despite the similarities, a few distinguishing characteristics made Funeralium independent enough, and on their second album, "Deceived Idealism" the band focused more on these. The sound turned heavier, the music more diverse, the level of desperation, and the depressing features even stronger. This diversity is comparable to how both Ataraxie and Mourning Dawn are trying to take out the maximum from each theme and it's variations, and therefore even in case of extended song lengths, monotonous impression is possible to avoid. And more importantly: even though this genre and format isn't easy to go into, the slowly developing and ongoing themes are able to lead the listener with ease. From heavy riffs to gentle melodies, from anxious depths to intense outbreaks. It's a formula that drastically decreases the possibility of failures, but it needs pretty skilled musicians, and of course loads of melancholy and depression. Atmosphere has secondary role, not leading through the whole album, but often represented by blackened themes and sound and sometimes relying on the contrast of noisy heaviness and gentle melodies. It's like a direct connection between black/doom, death/doom and funeral doom, and in fact, the borders between these subgenres getting blurred and seem irrelevant in some way. The production and the sound are all-round high quality. Similar to both Ataraxie and Mourning dawn, Funeralium offers way higher complexity than what should be expected, and this makes "Decieved Idealism" a funeral doom masterpiece. 

Disabled - When All is Slayed... (2012)

   The early '90s death metal movement back then was definitely not supported in France, therefore except a few examples (like Massacra or Loudblast) not many oldies could be mentioned who were able to achieve any success in underground. But fortunately that doesn't mean that there were not any other tryings, it's enough to think about Catacomb. And Disabled is also one of those deeply underrated rare gems, who were lately discovered.
   Their one and only EP "Faith Ablation" was re-released with all of their demo recordings in the form of an excellent compilation album, to give a worthy memorial of their sick and overwhelming music. In general their music definitely didn't count secondary compared to the big names of the '90s, what could be heard on the compilation is old school death metal at it's best. The intensity, the aggressive tone and the sick feeling that haunts through the album describes well the most important features of the genre. The band had it's genuine style that seemed to be mainly influenced by American gore and horror inspired bands like Cannibal Corpse, Broken Hope or Monstrosity, but the list could be long. The primitive themes and sound they operated with are rough, raw and effective how they supposed to be. It's definitely something that was lost from the main scene since a quite while, therefore to find such compilation releases is always refreshing. Also the high quality musickness of "When All iS Slayed..." could be also quite addictive for the fans of the genre. 

Ataraxie - Project X (2011)

   "Project X" by Ataraxie is everything but a usual compilation. Though it fits to the main concept, cause it includes their first demo, some live songs, and a few other surprises, they didn't just re-released "The Other Path", but recorded and wrote the songs again according to their present perspective.
   This resulted longer songs than before with more themes and of course great sound quality. It's definitely not surprising from a band who pays so much attention on the details and keeps producing death/doom in excellent quality since their debut. Ataraxie's productiveness is quite impressive, and in longer duration it seems even more evident (since it's a 2,5 hours long double album). There's no boring or overly repetitive moments to find during that time, thanks to the great song compositions and the themes diversity. Unlike about most other bands in the genre, it might be difficult to tell about Ataraxy that because they play death/funeral doom, slowly agonizing and repetitive themes are the most memorable features in their music, though it definitely gives the basic tone. The reason why is that is kind of complex, and it's literraly meant, because on the side of great leads, catchy melodies, atmospheric tone, they also operated with overwhelmingly obscure heaviness and very intense blackened themes. By a Bethlehem cover they also told one of their probably inspiring sources that builds on the contrast of hopeless depression and outbreaking anger/suffer; a contrast they frequently like to apply. This common influence, the endeavor for excellent quality both in sound and music, and their impressive productiveness shows some analogy with Mourning Dawn. The only reason why "Project X" might be not so easy to go into for some, is it's extended lenght. But since it's filled with great themes and musical solutions, it's definitely able to keep the listeners attention, and requiers plenty of occasions to listen over and over again to get all of it's hidden dark gems revealed. 

Supuration - Back From The Crematory (2011)

   Supuration was one of the earliest French death metal bands, and therefore also one of the names (alongside bands like Massacra, Catacomb, Loudblast or Disabled) of the early '90s who barely received any support from their local audiences.
   "Back From The Crematory" is a compilation album that supposed to not allow the band's early old school death metal period to get lost in the mist of oblivion. The release includes the sound material of 3 temo tapes and an ancient live performance. The majority of the album is unfortunately hardly enjoyable because of the poor technical possibilities of recording of those times, but even in this form it's clear that the band was pretty skillful, and therefore more than underrated. When their first full-length album, "The Cube" came out in 1993, times were different already. Many death metal bands were looking for an alternative way for renewing the sound of the style (unsuccessfully), and Supuration was adaptable enough to keep up with the changes and actual trends of the main scene. And more importantly, to not fail where most most others did fail. Even though "The Cube" includes pretty impressive old school themes, it was like the mix of progressive ambitions, modern sound, and the weird experimentation of German bands of those times. From a less death-metal favoured perspective it's also a pretty enjoyable album and concept, but for those who prefer putrid sound and primitive approach, and are into early '90s rotting treasure hunt, "Back From The Crematory" is recommended. 

Mourning Dawn - For the Fallen... (2009)

   Black/doom is definitely not a common style combination to find, though the 2 styles aren't difficult to combine. If it's about turning to a slower, more depressed direction, deperessive suicidal black metal is the most frequent outcome. 
   Basically the 2 styles aren't so far from each other, except by involving doom influences the heavier and wider musical possibilities are the main characteristics on the side of minimalism and emotional atmosphere, while on the depressive suicidal direction builds only on the last 2. Bethlehem's "Dictius Te Necare" was one of the heralds of both directions, but their concept was closer to DSBM, and lacked doom influened themes. Still by listening to Mourning Dawn, that desperately sour and the same time aggressive tone waves back somehow. In their music the combination of blackened themes, heavy and excellent sound, common, but not sudden or unexpected theme switches are leading to a quite diverse main view. That diversity makes even their longest songs enjoyable, and excludes the possibilty of turning monotonous or repetitive. The album is definitely unified, but still, so many things are happening during this one hour long record, that "For the Fallen..." demands plenty of  occasions to be listened. The themes are very well composed together, therefore even if there is a quite wide range of different features to find, the album sounds free from sharp contrasts or switches. Mourning Dawn's music sounds relatable for both DSBM and death/doom, because they haven't been stingy to experiment with the themes, the speed,  and with the atmosphere in various ways. The extended song lenghts are definitely reasonable and well used up in this case. This might make them also a bit harder to go into for long term if the listener expects only one of the 2 styles, but if the main tone was found, their music is is like an exciting ongoing journey into the depths of melancholic extremities.

Frustration - Relax (2008)

   Even though there were tryings to bring back many already nearly forgotten music genres into popularity, still some ideas might sound surprising in the modern scene. Some tryings working out so well, that they're resulting a renaissanse for the exact style, while others are staying as genuine experiments, like Frustration was.
   The band brought back the long time gone post punk/alternative rock feeling of the early '80s, and they did that with such ease that probably nobody could tell the age difference. With very basic, but catchy themes they've recalled the mix of melancholy and intensity with the touch of suspected inner struggles partly based on self-destruction. That might be a quite complex thing to describe, but post punk expressed that with the toolbar of simplicity, a way like no other style was able to repeat. Their simple themes, lyrics, self-expression grabbing the listener to the core and planting there bittersweet feelings. This was the most advantageus feature of the style, and nothing similar effective enough was heard for a long time until Frustration showed up. Some songs are like arsing around, some are depressing, some are gentle and introverted, others are sounding pretty joyful, but even in that case the lyrics are not in balance with the music, so it's almost ending up sarcastic. All sounds all-round nostalgic and in high quality, so the question may stand why that didn't lead to a wider post-punk resurrection? The anwser is simple: the main scene was going into a completely different direction that lacked deep impression, and not many of the old audience of the style kept their interests active enough to keep paying attention and to become the supporting part of a new small movement. However "Relax" is an excellent album that filled an empty space that was left behind since the late '80s.

Necroblaspheme - Destination: Nulle Part (2008)

   Another example of the excellent sound of modern death metal was introduced by the second album of Necroblaspheme.
   The band debuted with the same concept, but with the touch of a more primitive, raw sound. "Destination: Nulle Part" proved to be a great progress both in technical development and sound. The rawness that remained in their music, took another aspect: in this case it was represented in the effect of complexity and heavy sound. This kind of complexity might remind to technical features in some way, but they didn't step through a certain line, and kept staying between brutal death themes and musical diversity. There are no unnecessary fripperies to find, complexity and heaviness are like serving and completing each other the same time. Even though there are no doubts about that it's a modern direction, it's unlike what usually is bonded and could be expected to that term. Even if the old school gory imagery and concept seems already history, there's no reason for death metal to turn soft or to involve influences that may emasculate it's style features like what actually was happening in the main scene. Similar to French extreme bands, Necroblaspheme offered exaggeratedly brutal entertainment in high quality without compromises, and they did that by practically telling the same story in a different way. Highly recommended material!

Ossuaire - Le troubadour nécrophageophile (2005)

   What could be a nicer concept for a young, promising death metal band than necrophilia and gore? Ossuaire seemed to be an occasionally active and not so long living project of musicians who continued to play separately in other bands.
   "Le troubadour nécrophageophile" was their first demo, so it's not surprising if it sounds quite experimenting and it's easy to sense that the band just tried to find some common ground. The inlfuences could be clear though, even if they are directly not known. Their music partly reflects the characteristics of bands like Cannibal Corpse, Deeds of Flesh and Broken Hope. More like the basics of late late period of the old school death metal scene, that lately had a direction specified on brutal death and gore. This was quite actual that time, so we could say that Ossuaire catched the actual trend in it's forming period. Of course all of these could be sensed in a primitive form still, but the main tendency seemed clear. Musically the main view doesn't reach that level of sickness, that was appointed by the band, but that's probably because the members didn't used to play together that much.

Belëf - Infection Purification (2005)

   Belëf by their one and only full-lenght album followed a newer direction of black metal, that skipped the strong mysterious atmosphere that was one of the essential features of the genre.
   This style was the most effectively introduced by Marduk, and the members of Belëf would be in big trouble if they had to keep in secret their Marduk addiction. The exaggerated aggression that could be heard on "Infection Purification" is quite effective and the clear sound of the album increased it's level of extremity. Instead of the atmosphere they focused on chaotic themes, and therefore the main impression is not far from blackened death metal. Not to mention that their combination of aggressiveness and chaos resulted total insanity. By the lyrics they followed the same line. There are no fantasies of lurking evil or slowly embracing darkness, but mass destruction and some horror references. So even though the record is high quality allround, it's still not easy to go into or to enjoy in full-lenght without getting permanent brain damage. It might be not the most ideal decision to listen to for those who prefer the sound of  Norwegian black metal. "Infection Purification" is more recommended for the fans of the intensiveness of black/death and for those who never can get enough from Marduk. 

Atarxie - Slow Transcending Agony (2005)

   Even though funeral doom and death/doom metal didn't become potencial audience favorites, both styles made a large step compared to the '90s. The poor rehearsal sound of funeral doom classics passed as the numbers of similar bands increased such as the quality of their music.
   Ataraxie was a perfect example to illustrate the progress. Their debut "Slow Transcending Agony" was such an all-round high quality record, that wasn't common to find previously. Slow, repetitive melodies gave the basic down-pulling atmosphere of their songs that are sounding like chapters of pure endless agony. The clear and excellent sound quality seemed more effective on this field than noise created atmosphere. It's a great mix of death and doom metal, as it's introducing perfectly the hopelessness of long term suffer, that seems like will never end. The heaviness came by the noisy themes and the butally deep growling that ends up often in agonizing screams. The song lengths and their monotonely bouncing slowness reached the level of funeral doom, but sometimes turns to intense hammering. The contrast they've created by these rare but repeating speed changes left the dominating role to dark melancholy, so there is definitely enough time for the listener to face it's inner suffer before some refreshing aggression arrives. It's a strongly recommended album for the fans of depressing heaviness. 

Arkhon Infaustus - Perdition Insanabilis (2004)

   It seemed like metal music totally avoided France. While some stabile underground scene - smaller or larger - formed in almost all surrounding countries, except a few bands there was literally nothing. But the situation fortunately changed, and plenty of high quality productions showed up from the '00s.
   Arkhon Infaustus catched the current main tendencies of the extreme scene already by their debut by playing a genuine style of black/death. While there are exact directions in this style and some common alternative options of turning technical or involving other unusual inflences, they showed another aspect by staying at the basics. Their music definitely counts as a modern sound of black/death with excellent quality, but they liked to experiment with themes and song structures. Even though the album is extremely dark, heavy and intense and may not come in mind in the case of selecting some chilling sunday afternoon background music after a satisfying lunch, it's not so hard to get into exactly because of the diverse themes they've operated with. It could totally bond the attention of the listener what uncommon musical brutality they will perform next time. The sound is definitely like in death metal, but the way how they made their own mix of black and death makes hard to distunguish the features of the two styles. And in this case not because of the old school tendencies, it's a modern fusion that created a common ground. Strongly recommended material!

Catacomb - In the Maze of Kadath (1993)

   A piano melody introduces into the dark musical manifestation of the mystical horror maze of Catacomb.
   The walls of the maze were built up from the inspiration of Lovecraft's novels. The piano intros gave a melancholic impression, and became an important part of the dark atmosphere that is the most catchy feature on the EP. The other one is the melodic ambitions, and the two perfectly fits together and creating a balance. "In the Maze of Kadath" was not a brutality contest, though it's a death metal EP, but it's also far from melodic death. Diverse themes, melodic solo parts, mid speed, and strong, misty atmosphere are the main features. The very deep growling stlye and the occasional speed ups making a contrast, but these are essential parts of the main harmony. The musical concept of "In the Maze of Kadath" is closer to death/doom style than to death metal in general, even though it lacks the successful level of heaviness and extended slow downs. The influence of Paradise Lost is suspected. However, it's a unique record in the line of the early '90s extreme metal classics.

Massacra - Enjoy the Violence (1991)

   France wasn't famous about taking piece from the extreme scene, and for a very long time similar bands simply don't had any chance to play or to get the support they needed from the audience, bacause simply they couldn't reach them.
   Massacra's music was everything but acceptable in France, so they didn't hesitated for long. They signed a contract with a German record label, for their thrash influenced aggressive music sparked more attention in Germany than in their homeland. After the noisy debut "Final Holocaust", their second album showed more mature sounding, well composed themes, and exceeded their previously heard intensity. Soon their name became widely known and their popularity could be compared to bands like Pestilence or Cancer. This was also because of their albums were well distributed, and extreme fans could found them easier. In style they were also fit to that line, their thrash/death rampage made "Enjoy the Violence" one of the most aggressive and intense albums of those times.