LORDS OF METAL

It amazes me that there are still exotic countries close to home which surprisingly enough have a metal scene. What to think of the topic of this review, Le Grand Guignol, who hail from frigging Luxemburg of all places! The band derives its name from an opera house in Paris (1897 - 1962) which specialized in scary and immoral plays and performances. The most important way in which this comes forward in the music on 'The Gread Maddening' is the extremely theatrical character of the extremely good orchestral arrangements, which largely outshine the parts played on the standard metal instrumentation

Despite the fact that all of the orchestral parts are played on a keyboard, the production has been well tended to excellently. The musical basis to which all this bombast and opera qualities have been added is formed by simple symphonic black metal riffings (the first two Arcturus releases) and a whiff of Viking/folk metal reminiscent of Falkenbach. This is not as strange as it seems, since drummer, guitarist and vocalist have helped Vratyas Vakyas on his last two records.

Le Grand Guignol is especially interesting for those people who can appreciate the grotesque sounds and projects of a band like Therion, or maybe even The Vision Bleak, though you would have to be able to appreciate the vocal styles of screaming and grunting, which are mainly used. In any case, these Luxemburgers have managed to create a special debut record with an original sound.
Richard G.

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