If you had dealings Haemoth's second full-length album, Of Vice, Suffering and Destruction in 2004, you're certainly one of the bookworms of this scene. The band's run of demos and few records since the late '90s is of a semi-legendary status, yet I've always felt they never got the recognition they deserved due to numerous French black metal bands operating at the time.
When they signed up with Debemur Morti Productions for the release of the excellent In Nomine Odium (2011), I thought things would then get rolling for them, but no — what followed was another 15 year-long silence. Today, we can finally witness the sun turn black with the project's fourth album, Black Dust, this time on Agonia Records and with a never-forgotten, unique trade of black metal malice.
The record evokes a constant oppressive aura, built upon foundations of razor-sharp riffing, relentless percussion and screeching vocals alongside frequent passages of drone / noise electronics manipulation. The terrain feels unstable, energy does not dissipate even when the music slows down, and sonic violence is present everywhere, but never feels out of control.
A blighted ritual act of demolition, where atmosphere is hostile and comfort is eviscerated, Black Dust is a vortex of blackened entropy with harsh production that not only lives up to Haemoth's name, it also unsettled me in a way I haven't been with black metal lately, and in the same way I always wanted the genre to manage.
Flickering transmitted signals and mid-paced guitar lines set the tone on the opener "Ashen Remains", which introduces the obliterative first set of tracks, "Blood Atonement" and "When the Dust Finall Settles". Haemoth's corrosive sound quickly overwhelms the experience, as tightened riffs parade in a stomping manner with celebratory black metal radiance, followed by instrumental and heavily distorted dark ambient infrasounds on "D = IX" and "Human Defects".
Noise detours are expertly used in the album, as in "Fragments Of The Sign" and "Void Theory", as well as the beginning and end of the final, haunting track "Stigmata". Highlight moments also include the clouds of ashen riffing of "Incense Of The Last Rite", and for me, the high-pitched short sound strokes on the majestic self-titled track.
Words like true or pure black metal get tossed around easily, but I doubt most people can pinpoint the bands that truly fall under such labels. Haemoth's practices of this long-held creed in the form of Black Dust, still feels like news spread through whispers even at the age of the internet.
I'm glad for a little bit of more recognition from a new label, general presentation (like this totally necro cover art), and expanded musical horizons. If you've enjoyed Mysticum, Spektr or Drastus in the past, then this record is a kind of venom from the same serpent.
Release: May 22nd, 2026 | Agonia Records
Rating: 4 out of 5
Website: Bandcamp
Masterpiece from the French kings
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