Murmuüre - Murmuüre (2010)

From the Pyrénées in France, Murmuüre.

 Believe it or not, it's been a while since we've been this excited about a black metal band, but this French horde sound like they could have been cooked up in a lab just for aQ. Heavy and fuzzed out, psychedelic and weird as fuck, melodic and sorrowful, abstract and all over the map, within the first minute you'll know exactly what we mean, starting out with this strange little snippet of exotica, that sounds a bit like that cursed idol theme from the Brady Bunch Hawaii movie, the intro becomes this warped soundtrack, all fluttery flutes and strange glitches, we would have been perfectly happy to have a whole record of that, but instead, Murmuure launch into some sort of twisted abstract avant black metal, that is pretty difficult to describe. The sound is echoey and blown out, the riffs aren't traditionally buzzy and black, they're more gnarled and warped and woozy, layered into heaving swells of blackened sound, and shot through with streaks of twisted melody, the drums totally chaotic, slipping from totally free, to stumbling dirge, the vocals are buried and barely audible. There also seems to be all sorts of synth stuff happening, wheezing swatches of washed out chordal whir, as well as crunchy buzzing low end thrum. After a brief melodic interlude, the tape seems to crumble into a woozy circusy dronescape, all stuttering looped sounds, melancholy melodies, lots of hiss and crackle, and then those drums come in again, super loud, and weirdly produced, adding some structure to the whirling black cloud of twisted sound. Like some demented synth driven lo-fi black metal take on Godspeed but run through a whole bank of malfunctioning effects, not to mention the twisted mind(s) that conjured up these alien sounds.
Some of the tracks get downright shoegazey, all washed out and shimmery, the delicate melodies drifting through clouds of muted crunch, laced with an M83 style retro electronic haze, the drums driving this weird black pop into even further reaches of the known black metal universe, one moment it sounds like blackened Cocteau Twins, the next like some post rock band covering Abruptum as covered by Alcest, there are field recordings, long stretches of spaced out collaged soundscapes, but everything is woven together into a single multi movement gloriously blissed out, post black metal psychedelic drone drenched drift, and is just about the weirdest and coolest black metal record we've heard in FOREVER.
Here's one possible reason that this record sounds nothing like most black metal, according to the band:
"All the Murmuure material is based on a one hour guitar improvisation from November 2006. The selected parts were then further edited to fit a rhythmic structure, and merged with additional layers of sound. The percussions are a mixture of the original programmed drums, and some (extremely re-edited) additional live drumming. Vocals were recorded during a cathartic trance at a sacred place in the forest, with a mini-disc recorder. Being almost inaudible in the music, they're strictly conceived as a vocal sigil technique, a vehicle for intent."
Awesome. The sound is dizzying and confusional and so original, and is without a doubt, our black metal record of the year!

- Quote here.

Now if you read that quote, you'll know this ain't for the faint heated. Or at least for those into more traditional styles of BM. If this can even be called that.

Murmuüre is a French ambient BM act, that weaves and intersects through a series of diverse auditory manifestations - simply said, it's experimental of sorts. Mostly instrumental (or mostly inaudible vocals) with elements of lo-fi, electronic/ambience, and various instruments (some giving a slight touch of folk).

It's really interesting music, and though I'm not entirely sure of the lyrical subject matter, an inspection of their blog exhibits interest, if not support, for radical environmentalism. And yet again, this is some sign of the particular nature of French BM, with this tendency towards radicalism - like other elements of its society. I hope to listen to more French BM in the future.

For anyone looking for some BM with something... different.

Murmuüre @ bandcamp

Album Name: Murmuüre

Band: Murmuüre

Genre: Black Metal/Ambient

Year: 2010

Country: France

Track Listing:

1.	Primo Vere	04:50
2.	Reincarnate	07:20
3.	Torch Bearer	02:16
4.	Amethyst	04:56
5.	L'Adieu Au Soleil	05:50
6.	Disincarnate	03:54
Total playing time		29:06

DOWNLOAD