Creating an album that truly engages the listener is never an easy task even for big and established bands. Crafting an instrumental album that compels someone to not only listen from start to finish but also want to own it is even more challengingg. Certain subgenres of metal, such as power or even heavy, often struggle to sustain themselves without vocals. However, there is one particular metal genre where emotion and atmosphere can be conveyed through music alone: Post Black Metal.
SOUILLE (French for “contaminated”), or Defiled since this is a one-man band, is a fresh musical project that formed in 2024 and this year released its first full-length album entitled “L’odeur du mepris” (the smell of contempt). It is clear from the title that we are talking about a bleak and atmospheric album and Defiled attempts to paint a soundscape full of melancholy. Mainly through Post Black Metal foundations, which, however, at times take on a more pure, traditional black form or even heavy aggression, as for example in the opening track “Qu’étouffent tes fidèles archanges” (“May your faithful archangels suffocate” or something like that anyway) that immediately sets the tone: harsh, oppressive and unrelenting. There are also melodic moments, perhaps intended to symbolize the emotional turbulence of depression. A prime example is “Dénégation” (“Denial”) with its hauntingly melodic introduction before collapsing into a torrent of blast beats and intensity
Musically, the execution is excellent. The guitars form layers of despair, the drumming is powerful and the production captured the atmosphere without sounding muddled.
Clearly, this is an album that must be listened to from beginning to end. Its approximately 37 minutes seem like the narration of a sad story with emotional ups and downs, since life itself is like that. SOUILLE made an immediate mark and it remains to be seen whether Defiled will continue down this solitary path. “L’odeur du Mépris” is a promising introduction to a project worth following.
Kostas Boudoukos
8 / 10
