High production values haven’t always been welcomed in the metal underground, but it’d take a formidable sonic Scrooge to deny that Azziard’s sound cries out to be rendered in big, bombastic shades of black. Metempsychose is light years ahead of the French crew’s first two albums, both in terms of production and songwriting, wherein the band seem to have grown exponentially to fit the grandiloquent possibilities that technology increasingly allows. Put simply, opening epic L’Enfer sounds fucking huge: a barrelling onslaught of pitchblack, abyss-conjuring nastiness that fills the room like an infernal poison gas attack. Nastier and weirder than their near-symphonic opulence suggests, songs like Ascension and Archetype marry ornate death to feral black (or is it vice versa?), all delivered with a level of steroidal bellicosity that might even make Dark Funeral think twice before engaging.
Azziard - Metempsychose album review
Blackened death with extra widescreen welly

You can trust Louder Our experienced team has worked for some of the biggest brands in music. From testing headphones to reviewing albums, our experts aim to create reviews you can trust. Find out more about how we review.
More about metal hammer
"I love technology, but not when it takes away time from the real world": Lacuna Coil's Cristina Scabbia on tech, Depeche Mode and new album Sleepless Empire
“Brent had an Iron Maiden jacket on so I went over to him to talk to him and he was like, ‘Hey you’re that crazy drummer dude’”: The chaotic birth of prog metal giants Mastodon