‘The Dragging Poison’ opens ominously with a dark ambient passage followed by bass guitar that sounds intense. It’s evocative music, it’s a feeling like drifting down a river in a burning boat. Recorded in the sole member’s wooden attic up in the Pyrenees, the first full length work by this French project delivers an intense whirlwind in the vein of his fellow countrymen from the late ‘90s but with a non raw production.
This is crashing and thundering Black Metal with absolutely nasty vocal work that sits at the higher to medium range with lots of rasp like it’s done almost through a fuzz pedal. As for drumming he plays competently and also really smashes the cymbals which I love, plenty of hard hitting accents drumming wise. The guitars have a touch of old school Heavy Metal to them mixed in with the Black Metal steamroll, though unfortunately I do find them a bit quiet compared to the vocals mix wise here. Which, loud as the vocals are here they certainly have presence with a full bodied delivery as he utters these spiteful curses at the world.
‘Fogged by the Leaves of Pestilence’ has a frantic pace like that of a pursuit which was cool, but a real standout for me was the fifth track ‘Possessed by a Malignant Lust’. It has an interesting and excellent main riff with a heavy melodic twinge to it which I always am eternally enamoured with in French Black Metal. It hits in a way that sounds like the soundtrack to an adventurer stumbling upon a dragon’s lair, just straight up epic shit. There’s a nice interplay between guitars and vocals here as well, the vocals are utilized on this song in a raspy and moist texture.
Along with an ominous interlude midway through the work ‘Withering Veins’, and some more Ildjarn and Darkthrone type Black Metal material on the seventh track ‘Enshrouded in Rapid Repugnance’ which sandwiches in a really desperate riff in between punkish sections, ‘The Dragging Poison’ offers some variation across the 35 minute runtime. It’s potent, creepy and has an overall venomous atmosphere. Another strong album coming out of from France, further demonstrating their excellence in this style of music.
