Bosse-de-Nage hail from the Bay Area of San Franciso………and that’s pretty much all I, or anyone else who isn’t actually in Bosse-de-Nage, know about the band. But that’s cool, because Bosse-de-Nage’s newest opus certainly needs no explanation as to the personality’s behind the music. Because this album RULES.

1. Volume II Chapter I

2. Marie In A Cage

3. The Lampless Hours

4. The Death Posture

5. Why Am I So Lovely ? Because My Master Washes Me

 ii is a beautifully realised record, full of the kind of sounds you’d expect in an orthodox black metal band – screeched vocals and intense blastbeats. But Bosse-de-Nage are far from orthodox, pulling their influences from a spectrum most inclusive of a little country called France. They take their name from a character in a novel by French writer Alfred Jarry, with the book in question being “Exploits and Opinions of Dr. Faustroll, pataphysician” and Jarry is well known for being a little bit surreal, a tad absurd and a lot of a drunk. This isn’t the only French (and by no means the last) literary influence, final track “Why Am I So Lovely ? Because My Master Washes Me,” takes it’s title from a line in a Paul Eluard (another absurdist/surrealist poet, and of seemingly significant interest to the group) work.

The lyrical style on this record is hard to describe. The album has a very narrative feel and if you have the lyrics in front of you it’s almost as though you’re reading from a book, and not listening to some of the harshest vocals put to disc screamed at you. Reading the words whilst hearing the enigmatically named “B” shriek his way through some of the most obscure verse you will likely hear is definitely an other-worldly experience.

The words conjure images of despair, a kind of hell, an overwhelming feeling of claustrophobia. “Marie In A Cage” is possibly the most overtly sexual and pornographic piece of writing I’ve seen in black metal. This is not a band conforming to the norm. This is a band unafraid to cross boundaries, unafraid to bring together multiple influences and to present them in such a manner.

Musically Bosse-de-Nage hold true to black metal conventions, but encompass so many different styles that it’d be hard to place them in any one sub-genre. There’s flashes of Cascadian style in some of the guitar progressions, second wave in the vocal delivery and raging drum work and at times there is the evocation of raw and melodic French black metal. It sounds weird, and darn, it is, but it’s done so well and with such attention to detail that you cannot help but be sucked into the swirling vortex created.

The closing seconds of  final track “Why Am I So Lovely ? Because My Master Washes Me” are an education in how to terrify. A huge crashing wall of feedback envelops you, the melody of the track completely loses it’s way and is taken over by this cacophony of noise. It. Is. Glorious.

Take a look at the band’s official website, where you can grab digital downloads of their first two demo recordings.

http://bdn.greymetal.com/

To pre-order the CD and/or LP, go here:

http://theflenser.com/