Review: “Nuit Noire” by Arbre-Dieu

“Nuit noire is an EP in four scenes: an initiatory plunge through the night of a bad trip triggered by seeds of Argyreia nervosa. Each track is a stage — not a clinical explanation, but an invitation to assume the subjectivity of the journey. Imagine fear becoming embodied: death seems imminent, one clings pathetically to familiar faces, to absences, to regrets. Panic seeks an anchor. What follows is a sonic maelstrom in which suffering absorbs all thought and where the very idea of ending it appears as a possible outcome. However, after the offering of the self comes an opening: contact with the spirits of the plant or with protectors of the invisible, voices that warm and reconstitute — consolation, slow repair. And finally, the return: metamorphosis and celebration. The previous self — a corrupted being — is buried; one is reborn into the world with a simple, strange joy. The compositions seek immediacy—cutting guitars, abrasive textures, ceremonial pulsations—to place the listener face to face with themselves, asking them to position themselves in the flesh of the experience. Nuit noire is not an EP that prettifies pain: it exposes it, traverses it, and transforms it. It offers a passage.” ~ Arbre-Dieu

It is written in ancient scripture that Arbre-Dieu was created as a vessel to channel raw and primitive violence into sound. The name consciously refers to the Mason Dieu of the Tarot of Marseille, a classic 78 card tarot deck pattern popular since the 17th century, created in a distinctive woodcut art style. Curiously it’s valued for its historical significance, raw symbolism, and connection to traditional card games, offering a foundational, often more challenging, reading experience than picture-heavy decks. Perhaps that was in the mind of multi friends and vocalist Adz when he was writing and recording for the project and if so it would go a long way to providing a backstory for EP “Nuit Noire” (or “Dark Night“).

Mixed and mastered by Buck and presented alongside artwork by D. Gauthier, the record os one divided into four puzzle pieces of occult French Black Metal. Given the premise of raw and primitive violence you might think it was recorded in a more traditional Scandinavian way, in a damp, dark cave in the icy frostbitten mountains somewhere but there is far more to this sonic abomination than meets the ear. Instead, the opening passage of “Graines de la folie” (or “Seeds of Madness“) might make you think of the darker side of Nine Inch Nails with its bleak industrially tinged post-apocalyptic soundscape. When the guitars come into play the drums begin to sound programmed with the cymbal hits being noticeably flat, something which adds to the atmosphere as the howling plague winds swirl and you find yourself wandering the dark forests of Scandinavia in the depths of winter. It’s not until the half way point that the the wings of this Black Metal beast are truly unfurled with the scalding vocals driven by thunderous percussive battery. It is thus that the seven and a half minute long magnum opus of a composition manages to capture the imagination and hold it, leaving the discerning listener gripping the pillow tight in fear that something wicked this way comes. It may not be insanity calling but it certainly feels that way by the bitter end.

The unholy trinity of compositions that remain maybe shorter but they are no less barbed, the artillery shelling percussion of “Tourbillon chaotique” (or “Chaotic Whirlwind“) as savage as the winds of the title. This time out the drums don’t sound programmed at all, the full force of their sonic sphere ripping through the skull like a Hydra missile screaming from the housing of an Apache helicopter towards its target. As an instrumental it’s so brutal and abrasive that it doesn’t need the addition of vocals to destroy all in its wake. “La vieille femme et le soleil pâle” (or “The Old Woman and the Sun”) feels like its conjoined twin, a little less intense sonically but having the kind of vocals that scald so that everything balances out. The tremolo picked guitars climb like twisted vines that grow, restricting the air supply like a boa constrictor to create an atmosphere of claustrophobia with leads that offer something macabre. A similar formula is put to good use with “Mort et renaissance” (or “Death and Rebirth“), a track that has an interesting melody underneath the crushing weight of the distorted sounds before fading to black [7/10]

Track Listing

1. Graines de la folie
2. Tourbillon chaotique
3. La vieille femme et le soleil pâle
4. Mort et renaissance

“Nuit Noire” by Arbre-Dieu is out 21st December 2025 via Bitumen and is available over at bandcamp.