Review by Fernando on September 8, 2025.

France never ceases to impress me when it comes to extreme or avant-garde music, and for better or worse, the influence of Deathspell Omega and Blut Aus Nord is without a doubt one of the most enduring in modern extreme metal. This brings me into Ergholae Somptator. Hailing from Toulouse, at first glance, they can definitely be considered one of the many bands inspired by DsO to make experimental and angular black metal. However, while the influence is definitely present, they have definitely come a long way since their debut, and on their third opus, À Cor Et à Cri, they have definitely perfected their own sound.

The interesting thing about this record is how it’s only 3 tracks long, and the first and last are basically an instrumental intro and outro, respectively. The second track, clocking at over 23 minutes is the meat and bones of the whole record. While I will get into specifics of why this record is really good, this fact is definitely the hardest sell, and even I have to admit that I was left wanting more. On top of that, the entire album clocks at 30 minutes so it is a very compact but dense record. I do have to applaud the band’s decision to not overstay their welcome and show restraint, but considering how good their material is, I do wish they’d done another track, alas, I do respect their goal of making the record like this even if it’s both a hard ask for an under 25 minutes track, as well as an album on the shorter side a la prog rock records from the 70’s.

With that out of the way, the best aspect of the music is how the band’s music finds this perfect sweet spot between angular and elaborate compositions but with a very stripped back and minimalist instrumentation. 2 guys, guitars, bass, drums, vocals and that’s about it. And on À Cor Et à Cri, they perfectly distill their sound into, again, 23 minutes of pure ritualistic savagery.

Musically, the band still play their version of the avant-garde and angular black metal with some elements of progressive rock, but their true strength is an element of punk and thrash that’s subtle but very present. The band’s minimalist instrumentation by design makes them make the most of it, and as such, the music has a very strong sense of punk attitude, and their riffs also incorporate thrash picking which works perfectly for both the faster sections and the mid-paced sections.

The production also perfectly matches the music. It was handled by the band themselves; vocalist and percussionist Jérôme Bouquet and string handler Léo Louis-Honoré, the overall sound is clear but with a grittiness that feels organic, giving the music a raw but timeless quality, and the post-production courtesy of Sébastien “BST” Tuvi perfectly enhances the music while giving it a nice polished sheen without sanitizing or sterilizing the band whatsoever.

Overall, while this record is definitely not for the uninitiated or casual listeners, it is a record worth diving into, because of how good everything about it is. It’s a furious display of engrossing darkness that will definitely leave you wanting more, while also offering you a glimpse into an unknown niche.

Rating: 9 out of 10

Review by Fernando on September 8, 2025.

France never ceases to impress me when it comes to extreme or avant-garde music, and for better or worse, the influence of Deathspell Omega and Blut Aus Nord is without a doubt one of the most enduring in modern extreme metal. This brings me into Ergholae Somptator. Hailing from Toulouse, at first glance, they can definitely be considered one of the many bands inspired by DsO to make experimental and angular black metal. However, while the influence is definitely present, they have definitely come a long way since their debut, and on their third opus, À Cor Et à Cri, they have definitely perfected their own sound.

The interesting thing about this record is how it’s only 3 tracks long, and the first and last are basically an instrumental intro and outro, respectively. The second track, clocking at over 23 minutes is the meat and bones of the whole record. While I will get into specifics of why this record is really good, this fact is definitely the hardest sell, and even I have to admit that I was left wanting more. On top of that, the entire album clocks at 30 minutes so it is a very compact but dense record. I do have to applaud the band’s decision to not overstay their welcome and show restraint, but considering how good their material is, I do wish they’d done another track, alas, I do respect their goal of making the record like this even if it’s both a hard ask for an under 25 minutes track, as well as an album on the shorter side a la prog rock records from the 70’s.

With that out of the way, the best aspect of the music is how the band’s music finds this perfect sweet spot between angular and elaborate compositions but with a very stripped back and minimalist instrumentation. 2 guys, guitars, bass, drums, vocals and that’s about it. And on À Cor Et à Cri, they perfectly distill their sound into, again, 23 minutes of pure ritualistic savagery.

Musically, the band still play their version of the avant-garde and angular black metal with some elements of progressive rock, but their true strength is an element of punk and thrash that’s subtle but very present. The band’s minimalist instrumentation by design makes them make the most of it, and as such, the music has a very strong sense of punk attitude, and their riffs also incorporate thrash picking which works perfectly for both the faster sections and the mid-paced sections.

The production also perfectly matches the music. It was handled by the band themselves; vocalist and percussionist Jérôme Bouquet and string handler Léo Louis-Honoré, the overall sound is clear but with a grittiness that feels organic, giving the music a raw but timeless quality, and the post-production courtesy of Sébastien “BST” Tuvi perfectly enhances the music while giving it a nice polished sheen without sanitizing or sterilizing the band whatsoever.

Overall, while this record is definitely not for the uninitiated or casual listeners, it is a record worth diving into, because of how good everything about it is. It’s a furious display of engrossing darkness that will definitely leave you wanting more, while also offering you a glimpse into an unknown niche.

Rating: 9 out of 10

Review by Carl on April 28, 2024.

I was surprised to see that this one had no reviews, to be honest. It is after all a pretty important release in the evolution between thrash and death metal, as well as introducing the world to the embryonal versions of Atheist in the form of R.A.V.A.G.E. and Obituary in the guise of Xecutioner.

And speaking of Xecutioner, they are the first band we get to hear. As one would expect, you can already hear the band Obituary bubbling underneath the music on offer here. Especially John Tardy's vocals already have that vomitous edge we all know and love to them, be it a tad less guttural, but you can hear it is him. And speaking of things that sound familiar, the early Slayer meets Celtic Frost riffing is another thing that would resurface in the sound of Obituary, together with the thudding percussion and frenzied lead guitar work. Alternating speed with slowly crushing heaviness, "Find the Arise" is my favorite here, but the more primal approach of "Like the Dead" goes in almost as good!

Next on the slab is Canada's Lethal Presence, a name I'm familiar with because of the involvement of Bobby Sadzak of Slaughter/Strappado fame. They deal in a more thrash metal sound with some hardcore inluence added. The metallic riffing is straight from the Dark Angel/Slayer school of playing, with the gruff vocals holding the middle between early Dark Angel vocalist Don Doty and hardcore vocalists such as Ron Martinez (Final Conflict) or Sothira (Crucifix). The track "Strangled Death" is a varied song, alternating thrashing velocity with more (somewhat melodic) midtempo parts, which does not capture my interest to the fullest, but the other offering "Unholy Alliance" does, unleashing their inner Dark Angel to the fullest. Primarily fast and furious, with shredding lead guitar thrown in and a vicious vocal delivery, this one scratches that fierce thrash metal itch all the more.

Next up: Betrayel, a name I know nothing about, and listening to what they deliver here, rightfully so. Coming across as a half-baked German speed metal band, this isn't all that, I'm afraid. Listening to their cut "D.D.P.", this doesn't do much for me. The vocals have me thinking of a constipated Zetro from Exodus having a bad cold. The music itself sounds pretty 'meh' as well, imagine early Kreator left out in the sun for too long. It's uptempo, yet not stupid fast, resulting in a track just plodding along. Things improve somewhat on "Another Sacrifice", which has the same ingredients to work with, but has a honking dose of hardcore punk energy injected, which does become them a little bit. Both tracks have great lead guitar work, but apart from that, Betrayel fail to ring my bell here.

R.A.V.A.G.E. then, and they dish out some punishment alright! The potent thrash/death metal sounds fucking heavy, and the growling vocals add a truly menacing touch to proceedings here. You can feel the aggression writhing underneath, waiting to explode. Both tracks make good use of crushing midtempo parts with excellent riffing, alternating with faster outbursts and great solo's throughout. The raw sound leaves the percussion to be somewhat pushed back by the guitars, but at the same time establishes a feeling of barely concealed savagery in the music. The indestructable "On They Slay" would be re-recorded for Atheist's "Piece of Time", sounding slicker, more uptempo and precise, and rightfully so, because this track is a beast of a headbanger through and through!

To close it out, Sadus come to show us why they are one of the greatest (and in my opinion underrated!) US thrash/death metal bands in history. Here we have an act that at the time made Slayer sound like The Carpenters, and speeding through their fast thrashing assault on the senses, they do not hesitate to drive that point home. The searing riffs fly forth propelled by a percussive performance executed by an octopus on meth, so it seems. On top of that we get the screeching vocals of Darren Travis, completing this picture of high speed thrashing frenzy. Because of the demo quality of the production, it's a bit of a shame that the bass work by the legendary Steve Digiorgio gets snowed under somewhat by the demented metal mania on offer, something that got corrected on their albums.

For as far as I know, all of the tracks all come from demo's, and because of that the production and mixing on all of the cuts are pretty rough around the edges, although there are no exceptionally bad recordings to be found here. It all has a very underground feel to it, and this album is a pretty important document of how early US death metal came to be.

To all you thrash and old school death metal afficionado's out there, check this out for a solid blast of true 80's underground nostalgia.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10