Prieuré - Official Website


Jusqu'au Bénitier

France Country of Origin: France

1. Introït
2. Prieuré
3. Foi
4. À Travers La Forêt
5. Marécages
6. Vautour
7. Le Grand Incendie
8. Patience
9. Triomphe


Review by Michael on June 23, 2025.

French Prieuré are back with their second full-length album "Jusqu'au Benitiér". What catches the eye instantly once again is the beautifully created artwork on the cover which was once more painted by the mind behind the band, Sans Visage. This has been a very nice trademark he kept up since the early days and also with his other band Vipére (of which I am actually not aware if they are still active).

Next, what is remarkable is the atmosphere that Prieuré spread on that album which has a running time of about 45 minutes. Kicking off with a very soft and atmospheric acoustic guitar intro, that almost sounds some sort of proggy you might anticipate that the prevailing sound won't be that harsh and rough black metal that we could find in the past but maybe a little bit more melodies and structures.

Okay, for the typical Sabaton / Powerwolf listener these might be some words that are impossible to comprehend but in most of the songs there are a lot of melodies and some really catchy parts. Just like in "Prieuré" where you can find some cool Celtic Frost-vibes here and there and altogether this song has a lot of old school thrash vibes.

Same goes for "Le Grand Incendie" which has not only some harsh thrash riffs but also some rotten punk vibes. But the coolest twist in the song is the use of an acoustic guitar to spread some folk feeling (if I didn't get it wrong) which is just for a few seconds but sounds really great. I would have drunk a Guinness if it had lasted a little bit longer.

Some unusual instruments are used in the final track "Triomphe", too. First this track is more or less standard black metal with all its trademarks but becomes more and more terrifying with diabolic keyboards and guitars and at the end of it, even with bagpipes. Sounds interesting, doesn't it? I think so and I would say that this is the most diverse and also the best song Sans Visage has written so far. Here, Geoffrey Dell'Aria (Cruachan, Les Bâtards Du Nord) was responsible for that. Another guest appearance worth mentioning is Torve (Ascète) in "À Travers La Foret" who also did the mastering of the album.

"Marécages" starts with some spoken words (in French) and becomes a very gloomy and atmospheric track, reminding a little bit of the "Interstellar" soundtrack with its keyboard vibes. It is just an instrumental but a really creepy and sinister one.

With "Vatour" we also get some Scandinavian black metal feelings offered here. Simple, repetitive riffs characterize this mid-tempo track, sounding like a bastard of mid-Satyricon and Burzum, Sans Visages' vocals sound very desperate and exhausted here. This one is probably the catchiest track on the album.

You can see, musically "Jusqu'au Benitier" has turned out to be a very interesting thing. If you're interested in literature, the lyrics of the album are based on "The Voyage Of Saint Brendan" which is a French story from the 12th century where the protagonist discovers strange islands, animals and even the gate to hell and paradise. This sounds like a cool black metal story, doesn't it?

Rating: 8.7 out of 10

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