Pénitence Onirique – Nature Morte (Review)

This is the third album from French black metallers Pénitence Onirique.

Following on from 2016’s V.I.T.R.I.O.L. and 2019’s Vestige comes Nature Morte; 46 minutes of glorious celestial violence and deep immersive feeling. Oh my, this is a good one.

Pénitence Onirique play modern black metal with savage abandon and infernal grace. On each album Pénitence Onirique have shortened their average track length and the total album duration, and alongside this increased their skill as songwriters; Nature Morte is the apex of this evolutionary path so far.

Elements of shimmering post-black metal merge with symphonic grandeur to unleash a furious assault of mystical extremity and intelligently crafted intensity. The songs ripple with melodic colour and come replete with the sort of textural details that many bands struggle to achieve, but not here.

The sharpened points of Nature Morte are finely wrought and lethal. When the music is fast it’s serrated and murderous, but when it drops speed it morphs into something either ripe with emotive melodic presence, or far more crushing and heavy than you’d expect. The vocals range from emotive cleans to piercing shrieks, from to brutal snarls to monstrous death growls. It all sounds great, and like the rest of the music showcases some great performances.

There’s frequently an energy to these songs that’s a beguiling mix of the dramatic and the dynamic. This makes for an exciting, visceral listen as the band’s sheer aggression and rich immersive atmosphere combine to produce a compelling body of tracks.

Pénitence Onirique have refined and improved their songwriting, showing that despite how good their first two records were, Nature Morte doesn’t fail to up the quality levels further.

Nature Morte is a multifaceted work of supreme black metal art. Pénitence Onirique have impressed and created their best, most affecting work to date.

Essential listening.