Back in stock, this time with a gloss-finish jacket.

On the last Crucial Blast new arrivals list, I talked up the new album from a band called Celeste from France that had blown me away upon first hearing it, a crushing mixture of ultra-heavy metallic dirge and discordant black metal with a distinct French flavor to it. I compared Misanthrope(s) to both older Neurosis (specifically, the oppressive apocalyptic vibe of Through Silver In Blood-era Neurosis) and the evil experimental black metal of bands like Glorior Belli and Deathspell Omega, without the overblown philosophical lyrics and intellectual nihilism. That doesn't mean that Celeste isn't surrounded by it's own enigmatic aura - the completely indecipherable lyrics and surreal artwork that makes up the packaging for the band's first album Nihiliste(s) is creepy and mysterious enough - but Celeste are much more concerned with caving your skull in through a relentless, almost unbearable application of ultra-heavy riffage and ponderous tempos. 2008's Nihiliste(s) is slower and heavier compared to the second album, with fewer blasts of black metal ferocity and speed; instead, the blackness is almost totally soaked into the slow, doomy riffing and tangles of chaotic mathy guitar, putting this album closer to the hellish sludge of Omega Massif, Amen Ra and Overmars. The riffs are discordant and gnarly, and shift between passages of atmospheric glacial groove and skullcrushing pummel, the vocals are harsh and torn, at times reminding me of a blackened and snarling version of Jacob Bannon (Converge), and the drumming is huge, complex, way more complex than most sludge bands, with tons of tightly-wound fills and an almost industrial percussive pound. The sixth track "Tu Regardes Trop Fort, Tu penses Trop Fort, Tu Parles Trop Fort" kinda sums the whole album up, starting off with a huge angular riff and sinister leads, then exploding into fragmented blastbeats and hectic black metal for a moment before shifting into some martial militant snares that build into another explosive crescendo of blackened metallic sludge.