Generally speaking I don’t normally care too much about the lyrics in black metal music. This is largely because 90% of black metal bands haven’t evolved past the ‘Hail Satan/Kill Christians’ boringness that has been the norm for the genre since the beginning. So it was definitely refreshing to see Forteresse not only writing their lyrics in a different manner, but also setting some excellent music to those lyrics. While the words are wrote in French, Forteresse writes about their homeland Quebec and their strong pride they have for their homeland as well as writing about Quebec’s history overall. Definitely a nice change if you ask me.
Lyrics aside Forteresse’s music is raw, yet quite monumental black metal. Each song clocks in at over seven minutes in length, filled with distinctive melodic melodies, and brutal as the battle field, Forteresse has definitely crafted something special with, ‘Métal Noir Québécois.’ While the music is indeed brutal and rather fast the whole way through the guitar work seems to remain melodic most of the time with appealing riffs and solos here and there. Interestingly the band also incorporates some traditional folk music at the beginning of a few of the songs. I’m not sure if it’s sampled or if the band plays it themselves, but it definitely surprised me when I first put the album on.
Forteresse is the work of just two members; Moribond handling the instruments and Athros providing the vocal attack. Athros also played/plays in at least six other bands, but mostly newer ones that haven’t made much of a mark in the black metal scene yet. It seems like in recent years I've heard a number of interesting bands from Quebec, such as; Sombres Forêts, Frozen Shadows and Gris. Who knows, maybe the next big wave of truly enthralling black metal bands are destined to emerge from Quebec. We shall see.
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