Ur Falc'h / Heretic Blood - Sur Le Chemin De La Noirceur (2006)

Until a few years ago I never really gave much thought to Quebec, Canada. That is until I heard the brilliant debuts from the likes of Gris, Forteresse and Sombres Forêts and I quickly realized something was happening within the Métal Noir Québécois (Black Metal Quebec) scene.

Although this split between Ur Falc'h & Heretic Blood stretches back a few years its a fairly good example of Quebec based black metal, which has typically avoided all the Satanic propaganda of black in favor of the artists showing their love and patriotism for their homeland - Quebec.

'Sur Le Chemin De La Noirceur' kicks off with six songs from Ur Falc'h whom perform raw folk infused black metal with French lyrics. Their craft is delivered in a vicious manner with blasting drums, dissonant trebly guitar work and raspy screamed vocals, although there are some more melodic and calmer touches as well as the occasional usage of flute, synth and Jew's harp within this bands work. Also one of the non-metal highlights is, 'Nuit Païenne,' which is a tranquil ambient track that sounds quite beautiful and very nature themed, likewise it reminds me of the old Mortiis records, which isn't bad at all. Additionally there's also this underlining sense of tradition and honor within this work which you just don't see in many black metal bands. As a whole though Ur Falc'h is excellent and definitely demands your attention.

Heretic Blood from Montréal continue this split with six more songs, although a bit different in style. After a five minute ambient intro titled, 'Infinité Boréale' the bands style shifts towards black metal with, 'Le Vent des Époques.' Heretic Blood is no doubt influenced by Burzum's 'Filosofem' record, but more specifically this band reminds me of their fellow Canucks in Forteresse, which is no surprise since nowadays member Moribond plays within. The music has a strong droning characteristic to it, mostly employing the repetitive riff technique, whilst a drum machine grinds away in the background creating an interesting static effect. The vocals are buried under a layer of murk, but it works with this style of music since it gives off the feeling of something speaking to you from deep within... well, I don't know, but it's creepy to say the least. Curiously a lot of this bands work is instrumental and although the riffs are simple they are effective but you'll have to pay attention to clearly hear the melodies. After this split Heretic Blood split-up, but I'll have to assume Forteresse was the logical conclusion since the bands sound almost too similar.

In the end, 'Sur Le Chemin De La Noirceur' is a decent split with Ur Falc'h remaining my favorite, but Heretic Blood certainly offers up some great compositions too, although you could just skip to any of Forteresse's releases and hear a more amped up version of Heretic Blood.