DÉLUGE became one of the most exciting upcoming bands in French black metal in late 2014 through the release their first EP Mélas | Khōlé. This fall they come back on Les Acteurs de l’Ombre (see our Spotlight article) with a full-length called Æther that I had the privilege to hear a few weeks ago, which only reinforced my faith in their future. In February, I saw them perform live, and their visual show as well as the strength of their songs blew my mind. After the release of the music video for the song “Houle” in May, they are releasing a new song from Æther (artwork by Valnoir/Metastazis).
Now, “Mélas Khōlé” is not technically a brand new song, since an older version is present on their EP, but when you’ll hear the quality difference between the two and some minor changes, you’ll understand that it’s as if they were two different songs. One of the changes, though, is the addition of Neige from the atmospheric band Alcest, who lends his beautiful voice along the track.
It’s not your traditional black metal nor ambient black, but a mix of a lot of things that give their sound a unique feeling of “peaceful aggressiveness.” I also liked their whole concept revolving around rain/water. Their name DÉLUGE means flood, they have songs called “Bruine” (drizzle), “Avalanche” (well it’s not rain, but snow is still water) or “Houle,” meaning swell and many more. You can even go further with the name of the song/EP, Mélas | Khōlé, Greek for melancholia, a feeling easily associated with heavy rains. Maybe I’m seeing things, but I like the idea – rain comforts me the way this kind of black metal does, and associating the two seems only logical to me.
