Serment D' Allegeance

Serment II - Les Ailes Du Posthume

Mort Ne 2010

The second album from France's Serment D' Allegeance is an icy voyage of ritualistic ambience in three movements.  Serment II brings to mind old Cold Meat Industries bands, but perhaps a little sped up.  Haunting synth, a mournful violin and sparse drums create an atmosphere of somber yearning on the album's first track, Les Maux De L'Indicible.  A fountain of distorted industrial notes and softened melodic tones clash in violent upheaval as Ames-Cendres methodically plods along.  Shrill keys and a thunderous drum settle across your ears like a ghostly frost as Le Temps Qui Tremble begins.  A slow swaying melody lends an astral quality to the track as it progresses.  A near ringing of church bells chimes across the textured soundscape of Le Souffle Du Vertige.  The song shifts into an unsettling twinkling of isolated strikes that induce a maniacal unease.  Dramatic synth and a piercing note freeze all moisture on Le Carrousel Stellaire's initial stage, only to usher in distant tapping and a blanket of layered keys which remove any remaining warmth from your body.  Sinister vibrations and heavy industrial pounding oppress my ears and echo with similarity of a stripped down Skinny Puppy on the track, Outre-Chairs.  I have to be in a proper mindset in order to lose myself in the cold embrace of Serment D' Allegeance's haunted compositions.  Feelings of isolation and desolation plague my mind as I journey further within Serment II's folds.