What do the French have to be so angry about? That’s what I was thinking as I listened to the debut album by SOLFATARE, Asservis par l’espoir (trans: enslaved by hope). I mean, I loved the hell out the album—Sartre and Cazalis would be proud—but damn, is hope really all that bad? I know, that’s kind of the whole point. Hope is an illusion that enslaves us to small-minded ideas and conspires to charm us into our own damnation. Got it. Check. Also, this album is fucking savage. So, yay despair.    

SOLFATARE hails from Brussels. So, my rant about the French is bit off point. SOLFATARE takes their name from a volcanic crater in Pozzuoli that sporadically spews sulfurous fumes and steam and used to attract loads of tourists until a family fell into it in 2017 and kind of ruined it for everyone. Also sulfur and steam. Bad combo. Keep away. But a great name for a Black Metal band. And if I haven’t said it already, Asservis par l’espoir is also a great album and not lethal at all except in a metaphoric sense. Certainly filled with visceral aggression but nothing that will outright kill you like, say, sulfur and steam heated to volcanic proportions.  

Some mean-ass tracks on this album. My favs include the opening track, “Des monarques anhédoniques” (trans: anhedonic monarchs), which has a festering intro of about 45 seconds before it launches into Black Metal overload with a touch of Avant-garde but mostly just cruel Black Metal tremolo and discordant riffs. I also really enjoyed “Sous des cieux absents” (trans: under absent skies) for its vicious urgency and the curious break at the 5:13 mark which deconstructs the track into a really harmonious melody . . . which, of course, then builds into an epic crescendo that will have you hitting the replay button over and over again. The final track—the hilariously named “Quand ton cerveau te surine le crane” (trans: when your brain is eating your skull)—is another multi-movement masterpiece. They could have named the entire album after this one.

I should also note the cover art by Jean Delville is particularly disturbing and therefore first rate for an extreme metal album. Production values are exceptional all the way around as well. Not your typical Black Metal lo-fi fare. Altogether an impressive debut by SOLFATARE.