THE NEGATION - Memento Mori

The Negation -  Memento Mori (2015, Kaotoxin Records)

Coming out of France, The Negation is probably the best incarnation of the extreme metal that the Swedish, self labeled as a black metal outfit, Dark Funeral has started back in 1993. It took me many listens of Memento Mori to be able to really grasp their sound and really make my mind on their music. In many cases when an album has to be repeatedly listened to be fully chewed, it is a positive sign.

In this case it is positive and it shows how dense this album is. It is also the lack of real label or reference in their songs and style that I had to place my listening standards differently. At first I was like; not another technical death metal album but the black metal elements and the quality of the production made me rethink more than once how this record deals with its themes and its music. It made me think how sometimes I grow tired of labels and the whole concept of bands making self proclaimed that kind of metal or that kind of reclusive sound. The Negation is like the answer for me, the band is labeled as black metal but sounds like nothing that usually straight up black metal sounds. I like the fact that they took it more as an attitude than a framework for their music.

In fact, they have this hardcore edge that I didn’t get at first and an extreme metal intensity. Overall, this is what I call a nice gem that is lesser known but sure deserves to be known by metalheads.

6.6