Somewhere between Stravinsky, Handel, and Bathory…today’s premiere features a full album stream composed by LES CHANTS DU HASARD, who mixes the world of opera and theatrical with that of atmospheric and black metal-esque elements to give the listener one of the most simultaneously thrilling and terrifying audio experiences possible. Each track is titled and progresses much like a movement, even being listed and numbered as a chant. The result of the principle artist Hazard’s fine attention to detail and crafting a whole environment of crescendos, dark melodies, and titanic levels of quality is something straight out of an epic film. Get your best headphones or speakers readied, hit ‘play’ below, and please hold all applause until the end of the performance…as we premiere a full album stream of Livre Quart!
Like something out of a neo-classical, symphonic nightmare come true, Livre Quart has a sound that is best summarized, by LES CHANTS DU HASARD himself, as ‘extreme opera‘. Given every styling of expression utilized within each composition of this piece involves a maximization of conveying intense emotions, passionately putting that in the nervous system into a translation of waveform and artful projection of all endured within the human psyche, it is no surprise that this record will excite you from start to finish. Each chant presents a brooding, menacing, yet suspenseful and eerie nature to it that, even in the calmer spots, will unsettle you in the best ways possible.
An entire soundtrack fit for summoning up a dark entity, the record has all hits and no misses, in my opinion, and blends the operatic, classical, and black metal elements together seamlessly, even if these things were never too exclusive to mix well before; Hazard achieves something of abominable delight with Livre Quart. Where I might normally cite a specific track or moment in a record, I don’t know that I should do that with this, simply because every second of the album feels just as relevant as the last. Not to mention, if we’re going with any traditions of the history of anything in classical music and compositions – then what I need to be telling you is that you must stay strapped into this hellscape rollercoaster and allow for each movement to proceed on. This doesn’t feel so much like an ‘album’, per se, but rather an entire play put in form of audio; To best appreciate any part of it, is to digest the full scope of it. It wouldn’t feel right honing in on any one part because, especially the way it is titled and progresses, it feels very much sequential and like it’s meant to build off of each chant as it goes. Therefore, I have to name this as something I would spin in full every time I’d go to listen to it, and you should too! Releasing June 21st, this exclusive, early-bird window into the latest work crafted by the mind of LES CHANTS DU HASARD will reflect some of his finest yet. I implore you to grab your pre-order of the record via Bandcamp, and keep up with all things involved with Hazard’s past, current, and future endeavors via Facebook and Instagram! A juxtaposition of sinister yet serene and powerful tracks in one compelling collection, Livre Quart is much unlike anything I’ve ever heard before. LES CHANTS DU HASARD speaks on the conception of the project as well as working on this particular album below:
‘French blackened orchestral/operatic ensemble LES CHANTS DU HASARD will release the stunning new full-length, Livre Quart, on June 21st, today unveiling the record’s first single and preorders. An endeavor conceptualized and composed by primary member, Hazard, LES CHANTS DU HASARD was spawned from the notion that metal is a musical style that deals with extreme emotions such as anger, violence, darkness, and despair. The ultimate objective is to initiate an aural experience of those emotions, something more than just music, that would submerge the listener.‘
…On the vision of the project as well as how the record reflects it…
‘Offers Hazard, ‘I created LES CHANTS DU HASARD following a vision of a crawling and uglyopera, in which some light could be found, the same way that [French poet Charles] Baudelaire found beauty in ugliness. This idea has been with me on a daily basis since 2016, when I decided to give it a try and began composing Livre Premier. Livre Quart is the closest I’ve come to realizing this vision.”‘
