Sombres Forêts & Gris - La Mort du Soleil & A l'Âme Enflammée, l'Äme Constellée

I can already hear people bitching around "WHAAAAAAAAAAT ?! But everybody knows about them ! What's the next step ? Mainstream shit ?!"
First things first : Shut the fuck up.
Yes, I KNOW that these bands are not THAT underground, but I simply COULDN'T ignore them.
Why ? If you're asking me that, your ears must be filled with donkey shit.
Yeah.

SO ! Today, I'm doing a "split-review" of the latest albums of Sombres Forêts and Gris.
"Why a "split-review" ? And what the hell is a split-review anyway ?"
Oh, well, it's quite simple.
These two bands worked together since the very beginning of their carreer (check out "Neurasthénique" and "Quintessence" booklets), come from the same place (Québec), have their albums released by the same label (Sepulchral Productions) AND made a conjoint album under the name of Miserere Luminis (and this one is AWESOME).
In my opinion, doing two separate reviews would be pointless.
Got it ? Fine.

&

If you already listened to the sophomore albums of these guys, you surely know that it is some high quality stuff, but since then, things have improved DRAMATICALLY. 

I mean, there's a HUGE gap between these releases and the previous ones, and both of the bands are on the edge of totally redefining what Extreme Metal is.

As you may know, Sombres Forêts and Gris play Atmospheric / Depressive Black Metal, but when you listen to La Mort du Soleil (Death of the Sun) and A L'Âme Enflammée, L'Äme Constellée (To the Burning Soul, the Constellated Soul), it feels like you're hearing two distinct, quite different styles of Black Metal. 

Both of the bands make a massive use of folk or classical instruments, and are alterning calm and furious, thunderous passages. But on its side, Gris plays most of the time very long (up to more than 15 minutes) and progressive songs, and the album sounds very smooth, almost peaceful (with some great interludes all along the way to the last track).

For example, "Seixième Prière" is the perfect song to lay down somewhere and let your mind roam free. You have to admit that this kind of stuff is very unusual in Black Metal.

Sombres Forêts, on the other hand, develops a cold, tortured and foggy atmosphere.

Still, the album is far from being totally desperate, and has absolutely NOTHING in common with all the countless shitty DSBM releases popping out of nowhere like mushrooms every fucking day, playing awful, shitty music and crying like little girls.
In fact, the theme of the whole album seems to be hope.
Yes, you read it right. HOPE.
It doesn't sound depressing, just very deep and emotionnal, despite the fact that the lyrics are heartbreaking, as always. Speaking of the lyrics, this is fucking POETRY. For the two albums.

But if you don't speak French, you're totally screwed, deal with it. 

It's worth a (thousand) listen anyway.

These two gems will give you the chills, you can count on that, so if you still haven't checked them, you know what you got to do, and if you don't want to, then DIEDIEDIEMADAFUCKA !

Available here (Sombres Forêts), here (Gris) and here (Sepulchral Productions - Prices include worldwide shipping)