Effroi-Eerie Passage MC
After years of tomb-like silence, Effroi re-emerges from the fog-veiled ruins of Wallonia. Eerie Passage is no mere debut — it is a gateway, carved from soot and stone, opening onto a scorched realm where the spirits of ancient Belgian black metal still howl through the trees. The album begins with “Eerie 1,” an intro cloaked in haunted synths, like mist coiling around crypt walls. But this is no grand overture. It is an omen. What follows are seven ritualistic tracks where Effroi perfects their sonic sorcery without diluting their raw essence. The vocal shift from Tsotha to Death Commander (of Dikasterion) proves to be a masterstroke. His voice scalds like sulphur, screeching through the mix with venomous clarity — evoking, at times, the same blistering presence as Sabathan of old Enthroned. The occasional screams from drummer Decombre add a faint touch of vocal variation, like bones snapping in the background. “Impurity” stands out with its eerie synth accents, carefully woven into the storm without ever softening it — think Prophecies of Pagan Fire, but played by ghosts instead of warlords. The keys don’t dominate; they haunt, hovering like incense smoke above the blade-sharp riffing. “Ominous Winds” is the album’s crowning moment — a whirlwind of spectral tremolo riffs, blast beats and spine-chilling melodies. The final movement spirals into an atmospheric fever, like being caught in a cursed gale where voices scream from the skies. “Ultimate Fight” and “Battles in Desolate Regions” conjure battlefield visions, where every riff is a blade and every beat a dying horse’s gallop. “He Rises” offers a highlight in the form of a searing guitar solo by I. Dveikus (Possession), cutting through the track like a sacrificial dagger. It’s a rare flourish that adds depth rather than distraction, reinforcing the ritualistic tension of the B-side. The album’s production, courtesy of Jeremy Bézier (ex-Enthroned), adds precisely the right amount of grit — raw and infernal, yet never murky. “Passage” feels like a cursed echo chamber, dragging the listener through forgotten corridors, while “Eerie 2” closes the album in a circular descent — a spell cast again, looping forever. The band photo — warriors in chainmail wielding axes — might suggest medieval bombast. But Effroi’s music is grounded in classic Belgian darkness: Enthroned’s early works, Regnum Tenebrarum’s Légendes Noires, and the primitive blaze of Pentagram-era Gorgoroth. No gimmicks. No shine. Just pure devotion to spectral riffcraft. Eerie Passage is not an album you simply listen to. It is a tunnel. You don’t walk through it — you lose your way within it. And with names like Amor Fati, Medieval Prophecy and Death Revelations on its unholy frame, this release rides the plague cart straight toward the necropolis of the eternal underground.
Death Revelations 2025.