Release Date August 7th, 2026
Format CD/Cassette
Genre Black Metal
Origin France
Dark Plague emerged in Lille in 2004, building its name around aggressive black metal threaded with bleak melody and relentless speed. The band began its discography with “Perverse Devotion” in 2014, followed by “When The Last Christians Die” in 2015, “Sadism” in 2017, “Be More Or Fade Away” in 2019, and “The Threshold Of Death” in 2024. “Masquerade” is the sixth full-length release and the second issued through Fetzner Death Records.
Dark Plague currently consists of Daimon on vocals, Infestus on bass, and Lord Of Misery on guitars. Kévin Paradis performs drums as a session musician. Twenty-two years after its formation, the band remains rooted in traditional black metal aggression, now presented through firmer arrangements, detailed melodic movement, and a tighter studio attack. Its progression has been gradual, with every release adding precision and depth to the original Lille-bred brutality.
“Masquerade” contains eight songs and spans close to forty minutes, leaving enough space for extended melodies, abrupt tempo changes, and sustained bursts of speed. Recorded at Black Lodge Studio, the album was mixed and mastered by Lord Of Misery, who places the guitars and drums at the front of a dry, immediate production. Tremolo runs dominate the guitar work, joined by dissonant chord patterns and melodic leads that give the violence shape beyond simple speed.
Paradis performs with ruthless accuracy, firing through blast beats and double-kick attacks with finely timed fills that stop the faster sections from collapsing into noise. Infestus adds low-end body beneath the guitars, although the bass rarely steps away from its supporting role. Daimon uses a scorched, hateful rasp throughout, matching lyrics concerned with social hypocrisy, concealed instinct, enforced conformity, punishment, exclusion, deception, and suppressed desire. The concept has substance, and its refusal to hide behind vague occult imagery gives the album a human source of disgust.
The narrow vocal register and persistent high-speed attack cause several songs to merge at their borders, and a few returning melodic figures continue after their point has been made. Tempo drops and riff changes break that uniformity before it spreads across the entire album. “Masquerade” falls short of elite status through occasional predictability, although its hostile atmosphere, severe riffing, precise drumming, and focused lyrical theme place it far above routine black metal output.
|7.8
Add comment
Comments