Via Doloris - Guerre Et Paix

I don't write as many album reviews as I did back in my heyday of working for the ol' webzine, but now and again an album comes out that I just need to go on about. Being my blog, it's a lot more informal, but nonetheless this album deserves the praise. 

From the mind of Gildas Le Pape, someone who has done some time in the extreme metal scene, but is quite involved in jazz as well, Guerre Et Paix is a debut album like one that I have not heard in a very long time. It brings me back to the days where I can grab a genuinely new album and be blown away by it; this has not happened for awhile. I've certainly heard a few very good debut albums the past few years(one from Norway last year stood out quite a bit), but I can count them on one hand, it feels like. Via Doloris being as incredible a band/project as it is made me very happy to be able to crack my knuckles and gush about an album all over again like the old days. 

For those unfamiliar, Gildas is a French musician who resides in Norway, is a guitar teacher, and has done some work in metal bands in the past; he was Satyricon's guitarist from 2008 to 2013, and was in a short-lived French black/thrash band called Morbid Rites(they only had two demos.) Via Doloris is the first time, at least that I have heard, where he's doing an entire extreme metal album on his own. 

This album is mostly a one-man affair. Gildas composed and wrote everything here, and played all of the instruments save for the drums, which he tapped the mighty Frost to handle. If you're going to get yourself a drummer to take part in a project, trying to get one of the best in the biz is a great bet, and he did just that. If you aren't familiar with Frost, I imagine you might be new to the genre(which is fine! We all start somewhere), but he's basically one of the best extreme metal drummers out there, having been in the scene since the early '90s and has taken part in countless projects, though his main bands are Satyricon and 1349. 

I very, very much hope that Gildas has more albums in him, because this debut is stellar. Sitting at seven songs and clocking in at nearly fifty minutes, the songs are incredibly layered and dynamic, never overstaying their welcome. 

Stylistically, this album is definitely black metal, of the melodic, well-produced and atmospheric variety. At least for me, it harkens back to the '90s when I'd break out one of those groundbreaking new albums, a la Nemesis Divina or Storm of the Light's Bane. It doesn't copy either of those at all, but it's just to give you a sort of idea of the vibe I get. Given those are two of my favorite albums of all time, it's a very high complement. The production is tight, though not overly wrought, and feels natural. 

Opening with "Communion," it sets both the pace and the theme of the album-the bleak main riff sticks with you as the chilling vocals cut through and Frost's drums keep it all together, setting the blistering pace. A memorable riff keeps me coming back to the track; definitely one to want to hear more than once. "Un Franc Soleil" is a slower, more melancholy track, the haunting vocals, tight groove and strong melody selling an almost grieving atmosphere. It was the second track released from the band, close to the album's release. (I don't want to 'spoil' all the tracks talking you through each and every one from start to finish.) 

"Omniprésents" speeds things back up again, and continues to feed the listener wonderful, still-mournful, yet surprisingly catchy melodies. The more one listens to this album, the more it becomes apparently just how talented Gildas is at composition, performing, and arranging as well. With Frost's stellar drumwork adding the backbone, it also shows he has an ear for picking out exactly who he might need for the album, too. I'll be honest, while there are plenty of talented drummers in the scene, I'm not sure any others could've given this album its feel, given the drum legend's ability to feel the music better than many. 

"For the Glory" is up next, and is the band's first music video and was the first song that was up for release. I'll link it here in case you haven't seen it yet:

A great pick for the album's first taste, as I think it encapsulates the album's whole feel very well. This one's a fast and pretty heavy affair, though it does not lose the fantastic riffs and melodic tones that it has been delivering so far, and importantly, it keeps and in fact well showcases that almost desolate atmosphere. The break of acoustic guitars melds wonderfully with Frost's frenetic blasts and double bass assault. 

"Ultime Tourment" is the longest song on the album, clocking in at over ten minutes, but never wears out its welcome. Opening with a marching beat on the drums, it has a slower groove that almost invokes a dirge-like anthem, but both guitars and drums are delightfully dynamic in this one. Halfway through the song, it proceeds to have a transformation into a much more wicked sounding affair. The riffs on this album continued to impress me as I listened, mixes of both heavy grooves and tremolo picking giving it its unique, yet still dark sound. 

The final two songs are "Visdommens Vei I" and "Visdommens Vei II." The first being the longer of the two, opening with yet another beautiful and somber melody and some creative drumwork for a good couple of minutes before the song forms into something one might hear if there were such a thing as a black metal funeral procession. Slower to mid-tempo at first, with a groove that drives you to headbang right at your desk. 

The follow-up is more of a two-minute, eerie outro with some very eerie sounding guitars and monk-like choir-chants, closing off the affair rather beautifully, almost like it closes off the funeral-like dirge of the previous track. 

If you've caught onto my possibly somewhat repetitive descriptions, I use the terms "melancholy," "atmospheric", and "bleak," quite often. It's for a good reason; it's the type of picture this album paints. To me, this album sounds like a lonely sunset as one sits on a rooftop, a solitary, windy walk through a wooded graveyard, or an early, cloudy morning with a storm rolling in. It sounds classic, yet new at the same time. 

Something I genuinely appreciate about Guerre Et Paix is that it's an album with a clear vision, or at least to me it *sounds* like an album with a clear vision. Quite often I hear albums that might be good, hell, even great, but I can also hear a lot of 'Throwing stuff at a wall to see if it works or not' at the same time. I feel like when I put this on I get a clear view of what Gildas was going for, and he succeeded in putting it all together. But it never comes off as some sort of mechanical, "false" thing, it feels like an organic, genuine beast formed of a creative spirit. In a world where that genuine, creative spirit seems to get stifled by one thing or another more times than I'd like to see, it's a great thing. 

Already having gone on for awhile with this one, I will put this not only on my "Must buy" metal list this year, but "AotY Contender" as well. It's certainly on my regular playlist already(I have been listening to it while doing work with the miniatures and it's bleak soundscape is quite inspiring for the grimdark aesthetic that I like to paint.) 

Hopefully this little writeup gives you an idea of what to expect from the album. It comes with my whole-heartedly positive thumbs up and a "Go buy this." I'm hoping that we get to hear more from the mind of Gildas Le Pape, until then I'll go spin this some more while doing some bleak art! 

A cool video on minipainting trends/styles

I watched a pretty fantastic short Youtube video on painting trends that I 100% agree with. I'll link it here: 

It's not even too long, but it goes into different painting trends quite well and how they change. (I won't say 'come and go' since there are plenty of folks still painting in all of these.) Some of these trends, of course, started before the Internet was a widespread thing(Warhammer Fantasy Battle came out in 1983 or so? I think it still mentioned pre-decimal British currency, given folks playing it in 1983 might actually remember when that was last used.) 

When he mentioned goblin green bases, that was just a thing with the models being easy to see(I believe some stores had it as a rule? But you'd have to ask someone that was around at that time in the 1980s.) That was more of a base color choice, but it was a style. 

I think, of course, a problem with just about any artistic style is when it devolves to something being right or wrong. Now I of course do know that there are things in art that are objectively good to learn. Learning, say, brush control as ANY painter will help you, etc. Learning more techniques help and so on. This isn't so much speaking about that, though-it's about how certain styles come off as right/wrong/more accepted. Another part that hits home is in regards to the whole social media thing-stuff needs to look good while scrolling those algorithms. 

But the line in this video that stuck out the absolute most to me is "Knowing when you're following a trend, and knowing whether you actually enjoy it." I do think that folks get caught up in painting styles they do not enjoy because it's The Style At the Time. I managed to not get too hung up on it since I've only been painting about six months and still learning a lot, but I will say I started to fall into some of those 'cleaner' styles at first, and realized that while it was fun now and then, I wasn't sure if it was something I wanted to do all the time. When I did my first 'nastier' models, I realized that it was fun getting the atmosphere right. I totally respect Golden Demon painters and aspirants, but I remember hearing a video with Vince Venturella, where he decided to not enter Golden Demon anymore, and stated how he wanted to 'Paint things that make him happy.' And those words stuck with me. Like I definitely chafed when I heard people refer to the grimdark style as 'too messy' or by less-flattering ways, when people can spend just as much time on those models than people do with the 'clean styles.' Capturing the whole grim atmosphere between building the bases, kitbashing, adding other materials into the mix with planning and so on, thinking of the 'story' of the piece all the way down, all takes time. They just don't look as 'Typically Pretty', because they are not supposed to. (Of course, you can have a preference. FWIW, I don't think it's right if grimdark style folks talk down on, say, volumetric highlights or whatnot either. But I think everyone should just remember preference is a preference, and that's it.) 

I'd say for me, my favorite style is definitely grimdark, but that's been well-determined by now. I've tooled around in a ton of styles so far, since I didn't want to learn on 'Just One.' Contrast/Slapchop, volumetric highlighting, 'eavy metal, wet-blended stuff(this is more of a technique than a 'mini style', though, but it's fun!), I played around with TMM, and NMM and all of that. And I don't think I straight up *dislike* any of it, though I definitely like some less-I am not, for example, a huge fan of edge highlighting. It's not the amount of time it takes-I can sit there and glaze a leather cloak for ages until I think it looks cool. It's just something about it that I don't care for. 'Eavy metal is fun once in awhile, but definitely not a style that stuck with me. I occasionally get in the mood to do a volumetric piece like I did for the frost death knight. I had a ton of fun wet-blending a purple and green plague beholder. I even have a plan soon to do a limited-palette(Zorn) barbarian with NMM, just because I feel like it, and doing more of a 'sketchy/comic' style with it. I think I'm doing this musician I have lying around in an RGB scheme. Maybe with the sponge/drybrush combo, just because I'm in the mood. (I use both of those with any piece, but rarely for an entire piece, so it might be fun.) At the same time, I'm working on this diorama, doing some test parts for it, for Trench Crusade, and assembling some stuff I need to do some actual terrain for that one. (I still have the other half of my warband to finish, as well!) 

"Just Doing Stuff I Felt Like at the moment" is how I settled on painting, and most of the time, it turns out I feel like the grimdark, kitbashed style. I like taking random junk, kitbashing a model to look blasphemous and nasty and trying to get the atmosphere right. 

I dunno, I just had to talk about this a little, or I felt like doing so. Basically, paint how you want, don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Probably preaching to the choir, here, and I think nowadays the community is pretty much open to a big variety of styles now; I don't see the 'style snobbery' too much these days. Hopefully it goes away for good! 

 

Via Doloris is Awesome

I'm just stopping in to say that my latest music obsession has been with this one-man band, Via Doloris. 

Gildas Le Pape(mostly a jazz fellow, also played guitar for some years with Satyricon, from about '08 to '13, if I recall?) has so far managed to compose two amazing black metal tracks. Very bleak, melodic yet cold and blistering sounding, I cannot wait to hear this whole album on March 20th. I have my vinyl pre-ordered. I knew the guy was talented, but hearing him compose this stuff is spectacular. I can't wait to hear more! 

Oh, I did say it's a one-man band, and that's true, but the album does have a session drummer-the one and only Frost, who sounds, of course, on point. If you're gonna get a session drummer, get one of the best, and he's one of the best! 

If you like that cold, well-produced 90s-vibed black metal, please check out the songs that are out so far, "For the Glory" and "Un Franc Soleil!" 

I'll definitely be doing a review of the album here. If the rest is as good as these two songs, it's AotY potential already! 

Base or Diorama? That is the question

 I've found in my mans-painting endeavors that I'm starting to get really into base-building. Like, I have to be adding lots of trappings to them. I can keep them simple for basic 'filler' minis I do(the ones I paint that can act like proxies for TTRPG enemies, or extra PCs, and so on), but even then I try to give them a little depth and more than just the token grass tuft. For my more serious minis I've been getting more and more into doing all of the grimdark trappings and so on. You've seen some of my bases as of late.

It's at the point, though, where I'm starting to ask myself "...Should I just make this a diorama, and make the base, while still atmospheric and grim with lots of cool trappings, maybe a *bit* simpler?" One can only do so much with 28, 32 or even 40mm bases; in games that have set base sizes, it starts to become trying to fit enough ONTO the base. (There is an option here, which I'll get into.) 

And it's a tough decision sometimes, because 40mm+ bases especially do give you some decent room to play with. Like, while I'm still learning(I'll always be learning), and am only going on six months of painting at the end of this month, I think I did *alright* on this base, given the 40mm room:

The recent Hell Knight.

I managed to get a cursed altar, some trench wire and a couple of poles, some boards to stand on, and so on. You do get some wiggle room, especially depending on the size of the mini, and there are ways, like elevating them, as well. 

But for the 2nd Hell Knight, I had a pretty keen idea of a base and mocked it up with some unpainted pieces and wall tack. I wanted him to have messed up some Pilgrim's chapel, so I was going to set up an elevated part with a stone wall, ruined altar, and dead priest. 

And then I thought about it. The idea was really cool, but then I thought 'Maybe I could put him on the *path* to the chapel on the piece. And then build a much cooler looking ruined chapel, with the same idea, only bigger, and actually place all three Hell Knights around it. One already has the sorta 'trench' looking base, and he could be in an area like that off to the side(the ruined chapel could well be in an area that's somewhat fortified, given the world. I can put another on a haunted looking hill near the chapel, and the third on the outside.

And this of course lead me to think: when to decide to build a diorama? I don't think there's a cut and dry answer, sometimes "When the base gets too busy" might be one time. Again, you don't always get a ton of room to work with(especially when you're dealing with something like a 28mm base.) 

On one hand, it's actually really good practice to see if you can come up with a nice plan in a limited spot, practice and a nice creativity exercise. I had a lot of fun coming up with bases for the Rat Ogors, but those were 50mm, to be fair. On the other hand, 'less is more' does come into play from time to time, and there are times where a base can take away from the model(which should be the focus.) Like, a base can be SO elaborate that it becomes the centerpiece, and I think, at least for me, this is the line I've been trying not to cross. 

The idea I had with the altar I think might've crossed that. So I opted for the idea of the 'path to the chapel'(complete with some stones that might be a road, of course some skulls and branches scattered about, and I'll add a few more bits to flesh it out), but I think that scene will be heading into the diorama. And it'll be even cooler, since I'll have even more room to play with it!

So yeah, just me musing about stuff as I figure out this painting thing. Hopefully I'll have the 2nd Hell Knight based up tomorrow, and start figuring out something cool for the first Yoke Fiend, who I'd say is sitting at about 70% done? The 3rd Hell Knight I'd say is almost halfway there. (Oh yeah, all 3 HK's are getting metal hair, just because.)

'Til next time(when I can also get away from the retro handhelds.)