The French scene appears awash with technicolour crossover Black Metal (is that an oxymoron?) seemingly emerging as one of the most vibrant geographical musical entities anywhere in the world at the moment. Celeste’s Morte(s) Nee(s) delivers unrelenting sludgy BM that’s comparable to Cobalt with its earthly misanthropic groove. Celeste seem to have directed their wrath for only one half of the human race as Morte(s) Nee(s) is apparently about the ladies.

Seismic downtuned riffs straddle mid-tempo and doomy passages into the final track and set piece De Sorte que Plus Jamais un Instant ne Soit Magique which dabbles in drone-like simplicity. Here, Celeste’s sound really blooms into something dramatic and transcendent driving the album’s vicious intent to an infinitely dense singularity of pure noise.

Perhaps not quite as textured as earlier Misanthrope(s), Morte(s) Nee(s) is well recorded, beautifully packaged and given away in its digital form entirely free here along with the rest of Celeste’s marvellous back catalogue. Download this, savour its delicious intensity, then go buy the LP, for it is a thing of beauty.