Non Serviam – Il Pleut Partout Derrière

Band: Non Serviam
Title: Il Pleut Partout Derrière (EP)
Label: Trepanation Recordings
Release Date: 12 November 2021
Country: France
Format Reviewed: High-quality Digital Recording

Paris, France’s Non Serviam really is a lesson in both productivity and creativity. The latest release from the elusive, Parisian, electro-metal-noise-anarchist(s) adds a new twist to the pungent blend of metal, noise, industrial and techno with more than a dash of goth rock being the latest spice thrown into the mix.

Spread out over 6 tracks, Il Pleut Partout Derrière consists of 4 new Non Serviam compositions, with 2 very interesting covers seamlessly adapted to the dark and morose tone that has been fashioned for this release. In fact, the promo version I was given includes a final 15min track, (which would make this a 44min EP!?) however that track doesn’t seem to be included in the official release, so I won’t spend any more time on it here, other than to say it’s pretty great (and by “great” I mean: a terrifying, screaming, Butthole Surfers roller coaster running off the tracks at 100mph).

Those already familiar with Non Serviam should be prepared for the disorienting, throbbing noise and effects of the opening track Invivable Vécu. On first listen one would be forgiven for thinking the EP is about to explode into a cacophony of breakneck glitch madness, but Non Serviam are not to be second-guessed and it’s after this relatively brief aperitif that Il Pleut Partout Derrière shows its true gothic colours with the title delivering a kind of sludge rock/ metal opening. Slow and very dour, the track reminds me a little of Floods by Pantera filtered through an industrial-electro bad dream. With noisy overdriven vocals, that sound like demonic wind rushing through a dark cave, offset by haunting, multi-tracked singing, there’s a deceptively complex layering to a track that one the one hand is very simple in its construction, with the slowly drifting, ghoulish electro march also bearing some comparison with Dead Can Dance. It’s pretty understated and pretty great.

While the EP is split into separate tracks, the following I Will Kill You and Vengeance feel very much like a continuation of the intro and title track, with the underlying gothic dirge going through a series of ever more extreme transformations, taking in industrial metal, dark carnival, drum n bass and breakbeat hardcore. Taken as one piece of music from tracks 1 to 4 it’s a pretty wild journey. It’s definitely not something to have on in the background, but when you have the mood to sit down and absorb it all (I strongly suggest headphones to take in all the strange textures and ambience) it’s a wild listening experience.

And then there’s the covers. Though Something in the Way is a daunting prospect as far as creating something that can match the quiet, melancholy of the Nirvana original, the way the track is transformed here is bleakley wonderful. At first spacey and half sinister, half sensual, with echoing, layered vocals like a dreary siren calling from the rocks, the track slowly gets madder and wilder and noisier, to finally becoming a raging cacophony. Obituary meanwhile takes the atmospheric sludge of the Bloodiest original and gives it the Non Serviam electro-noise makeover. After the journey of the first four tracks these final two tracks draw a very apt conclusion.

Il Pleut Partout Derrière is music for a particular time and mood. What that time and mood is exactly I’m not quite sure, but when you find yourself in that place this could be a really exceptional listening experience. Non Serviam continues to defy expectations with one excellent recording after another in quick succession. Another left turn, another great release 9/10 Tom Boatman

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