PENSÉES NOCTURNES - Douce Fange
10 songs
49:49 minutes
***** *****
Les Acteurs de l'Ombre
Bandpage
France’s most insane metal band is Pensées Nocturnes, a neoclassical avantgarde black metal band which was founded in 2009 and has been releasing six albums between 2009 and 2019. Their seventh album is titled Douce Fange, a fun pun on the expression "Douce France". Léon Harcore, the mastermind behind Pensées Nocturnes, had recorded five of the previous albums all by himself. Douce Fange is the second one he recorded with fellow musicians. This choice was taken with the intent to play shows and to get outside creative input. Douce Fange is nevertheless not so different from what Pensées Nocturnes did in the past. This should not be taken as negative judgement as the band has always been known for playing maximum experimental black metal and this hasn’t changed yet.
To put you into the right mood, the album starts with a rooster crowing and a voice teaching you about the French national symbol. Then you hear a furious wind section consisting of a saxophone, a trumpet and a trombone. Another strange but dominant instrument on this album is the accordion. The unexpected clash of these traditional instruments with the black metal band is the principal point of attraction with Pensées Nocturnes. The musicians are conjuring crazy totally unforeseeable sounds that take you right back to the end of the 19th century, maybe at the time of the world exhibition 1889 in Paris. You will hear circus music, funfair sounds, tango tunes, musette melodies, a barrel organ, bizarre male choirs and of course weird metal riffs. The second track Quel sale bourreau is inspired by Haitian Fight Song, released in 1957 by Charles Mingus. This is actually jazz, another important element on this album. The version by Pensées Nocturnes is of course much crazier than the original. Sometimes you may think that the music you hear is just pure chaos, but the band always manages to come up with surprising twists that go into a completely different direction. Tango purists may be pleased by listening to a well-known melody at the start of Le Tango du Vieuloniste, but Pensées Nocturnes know to shock with a rather specific version of this tune. The French lyrics are more than crude and present a politically incorrect vocabulary which was common at the end of the 19th century.
All albums by Pensées Nocturnes have been released on Les Acteurs de l’Ombre, a label created for just that occasion. In the meantime Les Acteurs de l’Ombre has become an important underground label releasing many bands, mostly from the black metal genre.
After 50 minutes, this wild roller coaster ride comes to an end. Although I feel dizzy, I’d like to take a ticket for another round. Maybe one should call the music on Douce Fange vaudeville metal. Or extreme metal, contrast metal, cabaret metal... It doesn’t matter what term you choose, Pensées Nocturnes’ music is simply unique and brilliant. I’m currently reading Pour un instant d’éternité by Gilles Legardinier. That novel also plays in Paris at the times of the inauguration of the Eiffel Tower. Douce Fange could work as the perfect soundtrack to make the reading experience even more intense.