La Sanie des siècles – Panégyrique de la dégénérescence | ||||
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Studio album by Peste Noire | ||||
Released | August 2, 2006 | |||
Genre | Black metal | |||
Length | 51:57 | |||
Label | De Profundis | |||
Peste Noire chronology | ||||
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La Sanie des siècles – Panégyrique de la dégénérescence (which roughly translates as "The sanies of the centuries – Ode to degeneration", "sanies" being "a thin greenish foul-smelling discharge from a wound, ulcer, etc., containing pus and blood" according to the Collins English Dictionary) is the debut album by French black metal band Peste Noire. The majority of the album is based on tracks which were previously featured on Peste Noire demos (all written and recorded by La sale Famine de Valfunde on his own equipment). For La Sanie des siècles – Panégyrique de la dégénérescence these demo tracks were rerecorded in Rosenkrantz studio with a full line-up (Indria as bassist and Winterhalter as drummer) Famine had recruited.
This album still features the same raw sound of Peste Noire’s demos, but was substantially cleaned up in terms of listenability. The music still falls into the category of black metal, but manages to go above and beyond this label through sprawling tracks that maintain their momentum over the course of 5 to 11 minutes. Famine also used a lot of samples in his music – taken from a variety of sources – in order to construct the twisted, mysterious atmosphere that the final product holds. Also still in place are Famine’s guitar work. Neige, who was PN's session drummer on the demos, was no longer a member of Peste Noire when La Sanie des siècles was recorded, however he was featured on "Nous sommes fanés" and "Des médecins malades et des saints séquestrés" as a session drummer (only), because basically these two songs are old demo tracks which were not rerecorded in the studio session for La Sanie des siècles. They are bonus tracks, present in their demo version on the album.
Famine put things straight when he stated: "The most absurd idea spread by idiots is that La Sanie des siècles is better because Neige was more involved in its recording and production, yet the fact is that the album was recorded without Neige, in 2005, when I had kicked him out of the band. Neige never had any influence on my music in the slightest way possible; I write everything and I tell people what they must do over MY riffs. This was exactly what happened with Neige, ask him! [...] To claim that Neige is an important figure in PN is the same as saying that the person who plays the triangle in SOPOR AETERNUS AND THE ENSEMBLE OF SHADOWS is the main man in SOPOR."
PN plays a guitar-based style of black metal, which incorporates highly varied songwriting. The riffing and leads have a melodic tinge to them and there is an underlying dark, melancholic feel throughout the album. Due to its incorporation of organ, folk-based guitars, unusual riffs, guitar solos and the use of multiple different types of black metal vocals, La Sanie des siècles – Panégyrique de la dégénérescence received much critical acclaim from both fans and press alike.