Time flies in a relentless manner. This precious flow won’t stop nor turn back for anyone or anything. As time goes by, albums that seem like they’ve only just been released are celebrating their next anniversaries. There’re many great ways to celebrate them, but there’s absolutely nothing better than a band reunion to perform and record a live version of one of their masterpieces. And this is exactly what Seth have offered their fans this year.
Seth, a living legend of the French black metal scene and seminal figure in symphonic black metal, entered the misty world of metal music in mid 1990’s during the second wave of black metal. At that time, the French scene was dominated by Les Légions Noires, also known as French Black Legions – quite a narrow circle of musicians sharing their passion for the black metal music. While they’re supporting their own projects, Seth gained Fenriz’s interest and praise, which incurred envy and anger from Les Légions Noires. Its first demo Apocalyptic Desires, was dark, raw and remarkably good. Groundbreaking album Les Blessures De l’Âme was released in 1998. This album is a cult classic and one of the most important albums of French black metal scene. Since then, Seth has proved its value and grown stronger. It has stayed inactive since releasing Era-Decay in 2004, Heimoth (guitarist) published a note on their official website that band’s status remained unknown. Fortunately for their fans, Seth came back in 2012 to re-release Les Blessures De l’Âme and luckily none of the original tracks was re-recorded, leaving their own raw beauty, however album was beefed up with two bonus tracks and got a new cover. After releasing The Howling Spirit in 2013, Seth was focused on touring and live performances.
In 2019, Seth celebrated the 20th anniversary of their iconic album Les Blessures De l’Âme by recording and releasing a live album titled Les Blessures De l’Âme: XX ans de Blasphème, translated as The Wounds of the Soul: 20 years of Blasphemy. It’s also their first live album. It was recorded during a live performance solemnising Les Feux De Beltane – The Fire of Beltane. It is a pagan festival of fire held at the night of 30th April, celebrating the beginning of summer, during which ritual bonfires are kindled. It’s deemed that those flames and smoke have protective powers, what attracts participants to walk, dance and feast around them until the dawn. I can’t imagine any better opportunity to spread the blasphemy than this fest in honour of forces of nature being a poke at the Christian God at the same time. During Seth’s show the highly acclaimed album Les Blessures de l’Âme was played in its entirety. Les Blessures De l’Âme: XX ans de Blasphème opens with loud cheers of the crowd and notes of keyboard starting La Quintessence du Mal, one of my favourites. I was impressed with the excellent quality of the sound from the very beginning. Vocals and instruments were absolutely clear, not unlike most live productions. Next two tracks Hymne au Vampire Acte I and Hymne au Vampire Acte II are a wonderful infernal story of The Vampire Emperor creating a new world from the ashes of an old one. They always gave me chills but their live version highly intensified them. Le Cercle de la Renaissance is the album’s most complex and longest track revealing Seth’s true talent and great passion for music. Lyric-wise it draws a need for change and rebirth out: ‘Et quand mon heure sera venue, Je disparaîtrai afin de réapparaître… encore’ – And when my time has come, I will disappear to reappear … again. Glorious lyrics combined with marvellous wall of sound blended with melodic keybord and guitars mark this adorable track. The next one, Les Silences d’Outre-Tombe, is another display of incredible skills of the band members. Live vocals truely convey the meaning behind the lyrics. Saint Vincent fully got into the spirit while performing this wonderful anthem giving the praise to the Lord Lucifer. Penultimate track, Dans les Yeux du Serpent, is an incredible instrumental piece, one of my beloved and most favourite tracks ever created. Personaly, it’s also the very first track I ever heard from Seth. I simply fell in love with it. Beautifully composed and well balanced rawness with melodiousness enchant and please even most demanding listeners. Its live version is a pure, soul-touching masterpiece. On Les Blessures De l’Âme: XX ans de Blasphème it slowly transforms to the final track …À la Mémoire de nos Frères being another masterwork. It is one of the most important Seth songs and right after Dans les Yeux du Serpent my second favourite. I can’t even fully describe the feeling of bliss, excitement and arousal I had while listening to its live version. Like in a trance, I was admiring the perfect blend of heavy guitar riffs, flowing melody, rough vocals topped up with cadenced drums. A great ovation from the crowd and words of thanks from Seth ended the performance. I couldn’t stop myself from listening to …À la Mémoire de nos Frères a few times more. My only wish was it would never end…
Time flies and many things have changed since the first issue of Les Blessures De l’Âme in 1998. A variant lineup, changed approach and different times didn’t stop Seth from creating a wonderful live album. The French Symphonic Black Metal masters presented a real masterpiece once again proving their well deserved title. It was a pure pleasure to listen and review this magnificent piece of art. I’m sure it will overjoy Seth’s fans and for casual listeners Les Blessures De l’Âme: XX ans de Blasphème will be a great opportunity to dive into the past to recall the original release. My only regret is that it ends way too quickly.
Highlights: Dans les Yeux du Serpent, …À la mémoire de nos Frères, La quintessence du mal
Les Blessures De l’Âme: XX ans de Blasphème is available from 15th November 2019 via Les Acteurs de l’Ombre Productions and can be purchased here.
For more on Seth visit: Facebook, Bandcamp
