text: Jean Relapse
Nesseria
Cette érosion de nous-mêmes
Throatruiner Records
October 6th, 2017
This review won’t be usual. For once, The Goat Tavern will tackle a genre unusual here. Nesseria accepted to send me their upcoming album, Cette érosion de nous-mêmes, released October 6th via Throatruiner. When I say unusual, for some of you, none of these names are completely unknown. Both the band and the label are French, and they work mostly about hardcore (the modern one that mixed with many genres and that isn’t compelled to repeat the same pattern over and over again). Don’t run away, you metal freak! You might find here more than you could expect.
I discovered Nesseria years ago with their self-titled album. The first song I had the chance to listen to was Havixbecker Strabe. This was pure aggression, the kind that flirts with grindcore chaos and sludge atmosphere. Could we say the same now? No. This 2017 cuvée might give a new direction to the band. Exit the self-titled or Fractures sound, we are now facing new emotions. As a fan of screamo, I’m blissed by this direction. Once again, don’t run away! If you’re into black metal, these are emotions pretty much indivisible from both approaches. Musically, this is translated by the use of tremolo-pickings (Forteresse), a hoarse voice and similar themes. To be honest, a whole part of modern black metal has been codified by bands such as Celeste, other bands from Throatruiner (Plebeian Grandstand) or Young and in the Way, so Nesseria isn’t trying to turn everything upside down by themselves.
Of course, strong and violent parts are always part of the mix, but this album is an ode to open-minded people. They even included a dark folk song, a whole acoustic piece on which they kept the screaming voice. I couldn’t help to think about Nostromo’s Hysteron Poteron, the only difference being that A l’usure is an original song, not a cover of a previous song of theirs. Don’t think this is the only originality in the album, as if they added a banjo in a song for the pleasure of doing it (no offence!). St Petersburg has a whole ambient / post-rock part in it, Forteresse is the closest track to black metal… Themes are also quite varied, going from society criticism (reflections about terrorism, interchangeability of people…) to pure introspection (St Petersburg, La chasse aux écureuils…).
I’m not saying this album is perfect. It is very original compared to Nesseria’s discography, and they really tried to improve themselves, no matter the direction. Nonetheless, influences are more than present. Screamo (Mihai Edrisch, Daïtro…), black metal / hardcore mix (Celeste, Déluge…), the acoustic track (Nostromo)… there is no real revolution. What I’m saying though is that Nesseria might be used as an example of what France delivers in its modern scenes. The cleverest of you could have noticed I tried to refer to mostly French bands (sorry Nostromo and YAINTW) to get to my point: Nesseria’s Cette érosion de nous-mêmes is a showcase of French savoir-faire, and I can only encourage them to keep doing whatever they want with all this heritage.
THE GOAT TAVERN 