AN NCS PREMIERE: LE CHANT FUNEBRE — “GHOSTS AT THE DEATHBED”

Every metal fan has a mental list of musicians whose every creation they will check out, regardless of which band’s name flies on the banner above them. Jeff Wilson (Wolvhammer, Missing, Chrome Waves, Abigail Williams) and Neill Jameson (Krieg, Twilight) are two of the names on my list. When I heard they were collaborating together in a new project, I got a little surge of adrenaline in the bloodstream and an itch of curiosity in the brain. One thing led to another, and now the itch is partially scratched, but the adrenaline is still flowing: We bring you the premiere of “Ghosts at the Deathbed” by Le Chant Funebre.

This song is the title track on the band’s four-song debut EP, which will be released in digital form next month with a CD to follow, via Disorder Recordings and Black House Industries. In Le Chant Funebre, Wilson plays guitar, bass, and synth; Jameson provides vocals and drums; and guitarist Jason Phillips (Bringers of Disease, ex-Acheron) completes the line-up.

Given the nature of these musicians’ past projects, you might guess that black metal will play a role in the music, but this time that’s not the dominant style of the music.

The dominant style in “Ghosts” is funeral doom. At first, it moves at the pace of mourners on the way to an internment, and the music’s atmosphere is just as sombre and emotionally afflicted. From the very first moments, the tone is set by a slow, sinuous guitar melody that’s heart-aching and intensely memorable. It moans like a phantasm condemned to drift in endless night, in an in-between state that’s neither living nor dying. Groaning ambient sounds provide a backdrop that intensifies the sense of emotional desolation.

The music is granite-heavy, it crushes like a slab on your chest, the only reprieve coming when the pace begins to accelerate (briefly) into a rumble. As if the emotional weight of the instrumental music weren’t intense enough, the vocals magnify it, Jameson’s voice rising from a cavernous roar into a completely despairing, soul-baring yell. Hearing that is a chilling experience; it sounds as if he held nothing back.

Having heard the song, that itch of curiosity is still there, though it’s now a different question: Can the rest of the EP be as powerful as this title track? We shall see….

Ghosts At the Deathbed will be released digitally on April 14, with a limited-edition CD release to come later. Relevant links are below, followed by our premiere.

https://www.facebook.com/lechantfunebre
https://disorder-recordings.bandcamp.com
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Black-House-Industries/596324080394099