Band:	Belenos
Album:	Chants De Bataille
Style:	Pagan black metal
Release date:	February 20, 2006
A review by:	Jeff

01. Ode
02. L'ombre Du chaos
03. Chemin De brume
04. Vers La victoire
05. Prélude Guerrier
06. Colère De feu
07. Ar Galv Brezel
08. Fureur Celtique
09. Galian Da viken
10. Chant De Bataille
11. P.m.q.f.
12. Sacrifiés
13. Ar Enor Salv
14. Funérailles

Fans of Pagan Black, if you still don't know this killer that comes from France, please stay with me and read this review. You'll probably discover the amazing world of Belenos, a really good band that come from my country. Cold as Hell, the music of Belenos is a strong and powerful Black, with evidently a lot of Pagan ambiances. A must for the fans of the style?

So ok, Belenos plays Pagan Black, but let's do a little description of the music itself. First take some furious Black Metal with really fast tempos, add some really dark riffs and melodies and evidently Black vocals. In addition, put some really beautiful dark ambiances and above all choirs that sound like some Viking sings (I don't really know if it's a good image, but honestly this is not a common music and it's hard to do a good comparison) and you have a good idea of the music of Belenos.

"Chants De Bataille", the title of the last release of the band, means "war sings", so you already probably understand the colour of this album. The really good lyrics, in French, talk about war, warrior hordes and evidently Celtic divinities. It's a real pleasure to read them (if you can understand French of course), they're well written and poetic on a side, but evidently also really sad and violent. It fits perfectly with the music, with the general ambiance of the album.

The production is nice, the cover like the artwork rock and really like Himinbjorg, Belenos proves that we can make this kind of music in France. After all, our past was "Celtic" too right. But all in all, you'll see when you'll listen to this new album that Belenos knows how to produce perfectly a music that really sounds like a war. I mean that the ambiances are cold as hell but represent perfectly the site of a battle. When I listen to this album, I have the feeling that I'm one of those warriors, I can feel the fear, the anger, the iron the blood and finally the peace...

"Chants De Bataille" is a really classy album of Pagan Black Metal. As I just said, the music of the band has this ability to transform into images. So if you're a fan of this kind of Metal, or if you just want to discover it, have a look on this release and you'll probably be amazed by its originality and quality.