Bandcamp Galibot take their name from the child labourers who once worked the coal pits of northern France, and Catabase, the band’s second album, is steeped in that history, song titles like “Voreux” and “Jeanlin” pulled straight from the world of Zola’s Germinal. It is melodic black metal with a sense of place, the grim, soot-black atmosphere of the mines channelled through bright, Scandinavian-style tremolo and the commanding rasp of vocalist Agathe Boulanger.
As songwriting it is accomplished. The riffs are precise and readable even at full gallop, the melodies have a genuine sweep, and the concept gives the eleven tracks a thematic backbone that a lot of melodic black metal lacks, the sense of descending into the dark of the pit and the history with it. When the clean, effect-laden guitars open a track before the wall comes down, Galibot show real command of light and shade. Les Acteurs de l’Ombre have a good ear for this kind of ambitious French black metal, and Catabase earns its place on the roster.
What holds it back is the master. Catabase is mixed loud and modern, pushed hard against the limiter until the dense passages flatten out, the cymbals turn sibilant and biting in the high mids, and the bass loses its low-end definition under the guitars. The riffs stay legible, which is more than a lot of brickwalled black metal manages, but across eleven tracks the relentless compression tires, and the dynamic drama the songs are built on lands softer than it should.
Still, Catabase is an ambitious, characterful record with a concept worth the listen and a frontwoman worth hearing. A more dynamic master and it would be a standout of the French scene. As it is, a strong second album that deserves to be heard with the volume in its own hands rather than the limiter’s.
Catabase is melodic, atmospheric French black metal: bright, Scandinavian-style tremolo riffing, clean effect-laden intros opening into dense walls, and the commanding harsh vocals of Agathe Boulanger. The songwriting and riff legibility are strong, the precise gain keeping the riffs readable even at speed. The limitation is a loud, modern master pushed hard into the limiter: the dense passages flatten, the cymbals turn sibilant and biting in the high mids, and the bass loses low-end definition under the guitars. Across eleven tracks the compression fatigues, and the light-and-shade the songs are built on lands softer than it should.
Standout tracks: Jeanlin, Voreux
