One More Black: Introducing Neige Et Noirceur

You might arrive at a crossroads: Four or five bands of the same scene/region/vibe have grabbed you, but slowly your excitement might give way to a different feeling — especially as you hunker down for a first listen to a new album of that same ilk — a sense that it’d be more surprising if this new jam failed to impress you. That feels weird.

Further, despite your natural desire to love awesome stuff, you kinda hope that you don’t get into it — just to preserve your own credibility. After all, does anyone trust a dude who, for example, loves every single player on their favorite pro sports team? (I loathe half the Lakers.) Each girl at the best strip club? (1:5 is a good night.) All bands in an awesome movement in music? (Even Bay Area Thrash had Laaz Rockit.)

But alas, again we’re tipping you to Black Metal from Quebec: Neige Et Noirceur (“Snow And Darkness”). Fourth album Gouffre Onirique Et Abîmes Cosmiques (out now) is icy and grim like recent instant classics by neighbors Monarque, Brume d’Automne, and Neige Eternelle, and it zombie-staggers as often as it throws axes. Sure, N&N shares a weakness with Cradle Of Filth and The Ruins Of Beverast — that hoary horror-theater thing — but Gouffre blows you away where its vibe is so true to the band’s name, evocative of the simultaneous claustrophobia and bottomlessness of, well, snow and darkness. Screaming silence, if you will. Throw in your blu-ray of Alien 3 while you crank “Future Torture” (below) and “Le Portail De Kadath” (at Invisible Oranges).

Neige Et Noirceur’s Gouffre Onirique Et Abîmes Cosmiques came out Tuesday via Sepulchral Productions. Order it here.