DECLINE OF THE I — Escape (review)

DECLINE OF THE I — Escape album cover Album · 2018 · Black Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
Kev Rowland
Decline Of The I is a French post-black metal band. Their third studio album, ‘Escape’, is the final part of a concept trilogy inspired by French surgeon and philosopher Henri Laborit, whose works included brain studies. The lyrics and their hidden message play an important factor in the band's music, which has its roots in black metal, but although it always contains the atmosphere and emotion one expects from that genre, it is also bringing in influences not normally expected including electronic and industrial as well as orchestral elements. The band is led by a multi-instrumentalist, A, who has played in bands such as Vorkreist, Merrimack, Neo Inferno 262, Malhkebre and Diapsiquir. Decline Of The I is his personal approach on dark music and his spectrum of roles in the band ranges from vocalist, to guitarist, bassist, keyboard player and programmer. A is accompanied by musicians of Merrimack, Anus Mundi, Temple of Baal, Eibon and Drowning fame, all of whom are identified by a single letter.

The band commented: "After a heavy and neurasthenic first chapter, and an epileptic, dirty and violent second one, here's the last part of the Decline of the I’s trilogy: Escape. It’s now time to leave, to avoid this perpetual aggression of the outside world. All the other reactions leaded to a dead end. Running away is the only possible move for the subject to preserve its entity. There are many forms of escape: madness, suicide, technology, spirituality. This third album explores all of them. Musically, it’s the synthesis of all the previews works; it's contemplative and slow but also very fast, dark and brutal".

This is album that needs to be played repeatedly, as on first hearing there is a jarring nature as it doesn’t easily fit within the normal boundaries, and it is only be giving it the attention it deserves that one realises that there is something out of the ordinary going on here. Strange treated voices, black metal guitars, loops and weird sounds create something that sits on a knife edge, bringing together harmony and discord in a way that is both uncomfortable and compelling. This is not an easy thing to listen to, yet it is something which ultimately rewards those who are willing to make the effort. Sometimes music needs to be pulling at the leash, knocking down the doors, and this does that repeatedly. If black metal was being performed by the inmates of an asylum then this is how it would sound.
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