After two demos, French trio Feu Gregeois (it was an incendiary weapon used by the Byzantine Empire) attack with their debut album 'Mortis Regnum'. I find it strange and unjustified, that the band are still standing on their own feet, and are not backed by any record label. Well, this album should grant Feu Gregois a record deal.

The band are fascinated by the Crusades. They depict the history of Christian barbarity mixing death and black metal styles with soundtrackish musical interludes. These orchestrations are very, very varying, which is suitable for the stories that happened in many parts of the World, and where different cultures clashed. High standard instrumentation-wise, and also well composed, these orchestrated pieces are epic, ominous, beautiful and sometimes building up ambience. Orchestrations can also be heard melted into metal songs. Metal side of Feu Gregois is about simplistic riffing, which reminds me of old Samael for example. When the riffage works, it is very effective, but at times it gets repeating, too similar. That's why quite rarely heard lead guitars sound so refreshingly good. When orchestrations occure, the band does sound something like more death metal version of Cradle Of Filth. Those band names should give just so-so directions, because Feu Gregois sound themselves. So, the music is telling stories, and therefore it is soundtrackish, with sudden changes between movements. Sometimes the changes in atmosphere feel too stark, especially dropping orchestral pieces between metal songs. This problem does exist with other bands too, mind you. On the other hand, here it is melting metal and orchestal music together, that works much better, which is exactly what I expected. Generally, the music is well advancing, despite of some repeating parts, and not at all so stagnant.

The production work is totally two-sided, as the metal part of it is quite raw with somewhat muffled guitar sound. I wish it was a bit more biting and rougher. The drums are programmed, and while they do sound like a drum machine, they are still pretty well implemented and powerful enough. Plus, there are more than three different beats to be heard. The orchestrated parts are clear and do sound epic when needed.

Beause of interesting topical aspect, it is inexcusable not to include lyrics on the booklet (at least the '2nd Circle' version does not include any). As the main vocals are parched growling without much of comprehensibility of what they are saying, it becomes even bigger issue. Some black metalish vocals are heard, often dueting with growled ones, plus a few spoken lines. These give some variety, but still it is the vocals, that are the biggest drawback about Feu Gregois.

Feu Gregeois have managed to create quite unique sounding music. They could be more adventurous with some things, e.g. getting rid of too similar overall riffage. There are just some minor faults on 'Mortis Regnum', so it is more than worth trying, if you're looking for metal mixed with orchestral music. Let the fires burn!

Rating: 7 (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
01/24/2011 21:25