Review by Sonny for Déhà - A fleur de peau - III - A Fire That Does Not Burn (2020)

Déhà has been a busy little bee so far in 2020. I guess with lockdowns and self-isolation he's channelled all his efforts into his art. This is his NINTH album of the year so far and is the third instalment of the "A fleur de peau" series. Whilst parts I had somewhat of a doom vibe going on and II made side roads into post-metal, this is more of a straight-up depressive black metal album. The album features four tracks and each has a guest appearance: Natalie Koskinen of Shape of Despair adds vocals to the opening track, Tim Yatras from Austere and Hauke Peters from Maladie appear on Hope for Twilight, Carlos d'Agua from Collapse of Light features on Thanatos and the Sea and Nils Courbaron from Sirenia guests on I Am Not Complete.

Musically the tracks veer from blasting, angst-ridden self-loathing to hopeful, soaring melodies that provide a nice textural contrast that works really well, despite the seeming dichotomy of these two competing atmospheres. The keyboards contribute a fullness to the sound over the black metal riffing and blasting that makes for a richer atmosphere than is usual in DSBM. Despite this, Déhà's vocals still manage to convincingly convey the desperation and anguish that is the cornerstone of the DSBM sub-genre.

Despite Déhà's profuseness during the past seven or eight months, there is no great detectable drop in the quality of his music and this is a very solid release.