The debut album of Décembre Noir gives us a death doom band definitely of good level from a country like Germany, indeed not particularly prolific with respect to the genre in question. The group from Erfurt mentions several influences that go to discomfort most of the leading names in the industry, among which are curiously missing two that would come instinctively to mind in listening to the disc: Daylight Dies and Novembers Doom, in the latter case especially for the growl of Lars rather close to that of Paul Kuhr. In fact, the death doom of Décembre Noir has a matrix more American than European, thanks to the substantial renunciation of keyboard melodies to leave room for a rougher impact where the harmonies created by the guitar make the difference. Emblematic in this sense is the self-titled track, perhaps the most immediate as well as successful of the tracklist, with the German guys keeping for the rest of the work a certain stylistic uniformity, where the only variable is the speed given to the different songs, except for the evocative and poignant ending of Stowaway. This is not a bad thing, considering that the average level is very high and this removes any doubt about the goodness of a work like A Discourage Believer. Maybe Décembre Noir have not yet been able to strongly imprint their own mark on the music they produce, but here the talent is certainly not lacking and the death doom they propose already has everything it takes to satisfy fans. A band that can grow further and not a little.

2014 – F.D.A. Records