SAILLE — Eldritch (review)

Album · 2014 · Melodic Black Metal

4/5 · 2014-10-11
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Eldritch (2014) is the third full-length album by Belgian black metal act Saille. The band has had a couple of line-up changes since their last album Ritu (2013) with Kevin De Leener replacing Gert Monden on drums and the departure of bassist Didier Vancampo, whose role is filled on Eldritch by guitarist Reinier Schenk, which is actually the role he held on the band's debut album Irreversible Decay (2011). For Eldritch Saille have drawn inspiration from both classic and modern horror literature.

If you've heard either of the previous two Saille records already then Eldritch is probably going to come across as Saille by numbers at this point. Depending on the point of view you want to take can be seen as both a good or a bad thing. It's good on one hand because Saille have always been a pretty impressive force on the black metal scene since Irreversible Decay dropped. Notably the band, whose music mixes melodic and symphonic black metal ideas, don't make liberal use of keyboards to create their symphony but feature actual instruments on their albums as well including cello, violin and trumpet and that's something that continues on Eldritch. They have real dedication to getting their sound just right and do it authentically to boot. But at the same time it could be argued that there hasn't been any significant growth for Saille as a band over the course of their first three albums and while I do consider their debut Irreversible Decay to be a black metal masterpiece I wouldn't say that they have nowhere they could take their music following setting the bar so high.

This is not to say that Eldritch is a significantly lesser effort from the band any more than Ritu was. I'm pretty sure if this was the first time I'd heard Saille then the album would have the same magic as Irreversible Decay did for me back in 2011. They're one of my personal favourite black metal acts by this point and Eldritch reinforces that opinion, but I have to grudgingly admit that it does feel somewhat safe for them. A masterfully crafted kind of safe yes, but safe all the same. Expectations are met but not exceeded. It would be nice to hear what Saille could conjure up if they were willing to step out of their comfort zone a little more than they have done so far in their career. That almost seems an outrageous expectation given that they have always been more than a cut above the standard for melodic black metal but particularly on Ritu and Eldritch I keep hearing these little bits of other ideas creeping in ranging from a folksy melody to a more complex progressive section. There's a lot that can be done using black metal as a base and there have always been times where the music has seemed that Saille wants to (and more to the point has the ability to) explore fresh ideas but for some reason stick to the tried and tested stuff. That's not say that Eldritch is a total carbon copy, if anything this is a more atmospheric sounding record than Ritu although the band never crosses into full on atmospheric black metal territory.

Despite the lack of growth demonstrated by the band it would be rather unfair I think to not still score Eldritch quite high. Despite the still unexplored potential Saille still show who're the kings of melodic black metal on Eldritch.