La Saignée is Zéro Absolu’s debut, but the members already have a storied past. Not only comprised of notable black metal artists—from Alcest, and Regarde Les Hommes Tomber—Zéro Absolu is itself a reinvention. After their original name—Glaciation—was stolen and illegally registered as IP by a bitter temporary band member, they had no choice but to evolve. In concept, La Saignée defends the band’s integrity, and that of the wider (black) metal scene against the poisonous ideas that tear it down, its lyrics described by the members as “confronting [both of their] enemies.” It partially explains the odd cover art, which is not an AI abomination, as it might at first appear, but a photograph taken in the aftermath of the fire that devastated Noeseblod (formerly Helvete) Records in Olso last April. Zéro Absolu are here to make a statement, and the way they choose to deliver it in La Saignée says a lot.
Zéro Absolu’s black metal proper is distinctively French, with deep and exuberant guitar tones, gravelly vocals, and a vague sense of nostalgia hovering about its refrains. There is more than a hint of Glaciation, of course, as well as Abduction, Seth, and countless others. Yet, now more than in the band’s previous incarnation, the admixtures of styles from those who comprise it are given freer reign. Gazey Alcestian plucking and serene vocalisations, and dark post-black turns from the playbook of Regarde les Hommes Tomber play a larger role amidst the frosty second-wave tremolo and drum. La Saignée moves between its aspects as mood takes it, unspooling the manifesto that Zéro Absolu have created. This is where the album’s structure plays a crucial role, for La Saignée consists of only two songs. The first, title track—an epic of over twenty minutes—feels like the raison d’être for this record and for Zéro Absolu themselves, rising and falling anthemically. The second, “Le Temps Détruit Tout,”—comparatively short at 13 minutes and change—is more reflective and solemn overall, though not without its own blackened surges of ardour. This duality more or less completely dissolves La Saignée into one piece, making it more stirring and immersive, and thus serving as the apt instantiation of Zéro Absolu’s declarative (re-)entrance.
By marrying an evocative black metal core with the threads of post-black at their disposal, Zéro Absolu create something powerful. Dispossessed of a lyric sheet, my French is too poor to parse the words—from both vocals and the static-blurred samples that surface across the runtime.1 Zéro Absolu’s execution, however, leaves little room to doubt their sincerity. The howls and screams which cry out these verses in unison burn with fierceness. The sweeping rise and fall of melancholic refrains—just as much as their incremental, understated derivations— carry tides of emotion in blazing tremolos just as much as the latter drip it in subtly with resonant plucks. La Saignée repeatedly peaks between emphatic intensity and the musings of ambience, and this dynamism feels real to the process of delivering an impassioned disquisition. Yet the other face of the record, which is less straightforward, shows the far-reaching, introspected core. Not only the atmosphere garnered by the stripped-back mellifluousness of gaze, but also the time given over to more abstract soundscapes as the chiming, sometimes eerie synths, lend La Saignée further layers of intrigue, depth, and feeling. It culminates in a rich, emotionally nuanced, and flowing experience that makes you forget, at times, what exactly you’re listening to,2 and not care because it is that immersive.
None of the above is to say that La Saignée is mind-blowingly unique, or beyond devastatingly affecting. But this is partly due to how high the bar already is for modern French black metal, not to mention that set by Zéro Absolu themself, in their previous form as Glaciation. Putting that to one side, I’ll concede that the structure, ideal as it is for immersion and intensity, somewhat runs against memorability, and in a related sense, immediacy. It takes some patience, and more than a few listens, to really appreciate the magnificence of La Saignée, and while you’ll certainly enjoy each of those listens very much (if you’re inclined towards this genre at all), it lacks some supererogatory obvious excellence that demands your respect instantly. This could also mean that mileage will vary between listeners, though I do believe that with time, all will trend towards the favourable.
As a means by which the musicians of Zéro Absolu return to the black metal scene, La Saignée is a powerful choice. In its free-flowing, dual-partite structure, they are reborn and make an emotionally affecting, honest-feeling, and wonderfully executed statement. This is surely just the first step in a new and vibrant career for the band, and what a first step it is.
Rating: Very Good
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: AOP Records
Website: Bandcamp
Releases Worldwide: January 31st, 2025
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