At the same time as the Eisenwald-rereleased ‘Le Pressoir Mystique’ the Canadians come up with their sophomore album. On their debut album the band showed that Métal Noir Québécois is not all about blistering speed and melodicism, but also about creative explorism that moulds gnarly harshness and unbridled beauty into a breathtaking grandeur. With their debut, Givre immediately delivered one of the best and most creative Canadian Black Metal records in many years. It is under this constellation that we listen to its follow-up and will have to hear if the band is able to fill those big shoes.
Although the visionary spirit of the band is omnipresent, it doesn’t take too long to realise that Givre has shifted their sound in a different direction compared to their debut album. While ‘Le Pressoir Mystique’ sounded harsh and at times even a little inaccessible with their Ildjarnian approach to riffage and gritty sound, they seem to have some sort of mellowed on this follow-up. The guitar tone lost that sandpaper-like edge in favour of a slightly more rounded and warmer sound. Although far from bad, Givre seem to have traded their unique interplay of the impenetrable guitar sound with the delicate ambience to a much more mainstream and recognisable Canadian sound. The long drawn-out melodies and recurring melodic themes are superbly and expertly woven into their creative and at times atonal Black Metal, with a far above-average result. But I can’t really shake off the feeling that Givre sound much more like any other current Canadian Black Metal band on this album and to a large extent have their unique selling points up for grabs. Thankfully, they have by no means lost their creative spirit, still making widespread use of allusive samples and musical excursions to keep it from sounding all too flat and simple and perhaps even falling head over heels in today’s endless stream of bands.
Despite the fact that ‘Destin Messianique’ certainly has good moments and the album still requires some effort from the listener, it has not been able to fulfil the expectations that arose after the brilliant debut album. It is to be hoped that on a possible next album, a more appropriate continuation of the band’s more unique sound can be made instead of pushing the now well-known Canadian sound even further, effectively giving up their own identity.
