Band:	Mortifera
Album:	Vastiia Tenebrd Mortifera
Style:	Black metal
Release date:	October 2004

01. Fvrahgments
02. Le Revenant
03. A Last Breath Before Extinction
04. Epilogue D'une Existence De Cryssthal
05. Ciel Brouillé
06. Abstrbve Negabvtiyon Rebssurectyion
07. Aux Confins Des Tenebrss
08. Fruits Of A Tragic End [Celestia cover]

"Vastiia Tenebrd Mortifera" is the début album and the only full-length from the French Mortifera. Two members, who have spread their name and earned their fame in the underground scene, in a combined effort to create and shape an album full of sadness and melancholy. Noktu and Neige, the former being known by his work with Celestia and Drakker Productions, the latter mostly known because of his cult Alcest and Amesoeurs. Both members were also involved with Peste Noire at one point or another, so this is not your every day line-up.

And neither is the music. Pierce through the veil of ear-shattering distortion and subtle and gentle melodies will reveal themselves. Some of these riffs could have been used for Alcest just as well, albeit it that they should have ridden themselves of the heinous distortion first. In many aspects this is similar to Alcest, but stronger in it's melancholy (an emotion that should not even apply to Alcest according to Neige, but to many, including me, does), stronger in representing it's Black Metal roots, and more vigorous in it's execution. Don't expect any easy-listening music here, this will completely drain you emotionally.

Noktu's screams are incredibly high-pitched and grief-ridden. Of devastating beauty. He pushes a song like "Le Revenant" to great heights with his sparse, agonising wails of terror. Flying over the waves and riffs of crushing sadness he gazes down and sees the decadence, the futility of life, and everything that is lost forever. He could teach Mr. Vikernes a thing or two on the subject of inhuman, terrorised and pained screams. Listen to his lamented, piercing batlike screeches in "Aux Confins Des Tenebrss": breathtaking!

What amazes me most about this album is the unique combination of emotions. Wonderful, elevating melodies lay buried beneath a thick layer of distortion. Once you're past that, this album is a bomb of melancholy. It is a definite highlight in the French scene and sound. In this day and age, France has established itself as a very strong and unique Black Metal country, and in my opinion, Mortifera is one of the most important reasons for this.