Style: Industrial black metal
Primary Emotions/Themes: The horrors of what happens when humans give over control to machines
Thoughts: Industrial black metal. What a fascinating yet incredibly frustrating genre. It sounds like such an amazing combination, but very few bands have caught my attention over the years. They either start off good and fade out (Aborym) or disband (Red Harvest - I know they aren't really black metal, but close enough) or just are not to my liking.
Borgne is a rather new find for me. I only came across them earlier this year and I was quickly smitten by their alluring formula. They combine atmospheric black metal with a large dose of industrial and ambient music. The resultant music derived from these ingredients is strikingly intoxicating.
On [∞] Borgne lean heavily on the atmosphere. It recalls to mind being stuck on a floating frigate in the depths of space with an unknown horror chasing you throughout the entire ship. Mechanical noises, deep synthesized ambience, layer upon layer of synths... all of these add to the imminent terror that the album evokes.
The metal is an important part to all of this of course, but it is not the main focus. It's used as a tool to further evoke the moments of uncertainty and chaos that the ambience brings. The two work as if in symbiosis with each other, neither dominating, yet neither is complete without the other.
Terror is not the only emotion that [∞] brings though. Starting with Un temps perit the album take a turn to emphasize the incredible scope and vastness of space. This track in particular is likely my favorite off the album. Starting with haunting female vocals before a massive chorus of guitars comes in with a pipe organ. To say that the song is massive is an understatement, overwhelming may be a better term.
These moments are fleeing though as with Comme si ca s'arretera/stone the band unleashes the full force of its fury. This ten minute epic is the fiercest of all the tracks on [∞] and blasts through my speakers with the force of an imperium battle ship.
[∞] is a fascinating if not a little unrefined of an album. the songs are long, and for the most part they justify the run time. This is the first album with Lady Kaos on keyboards, and while the potential is shown, its not until the next album where it is fully realized.
Written May 13th 2024
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