If you like your Black Metal violent, aggressive, and dark, then Olc Sinnsir might be for you. Olc Sinnsir is a relatively new Black Metal band from France and this, The Throne Of Dead Emotions, is their first full-length. Having listened to this release for the past week and a half I can safely say this is a very fine slab of Black Metal, especially considering it’s the bands first effort.

The guys in Olc Sinnsir must have listened to a lot of Black Metal in the 90’s because they incorporate a lot of different influences throughout their CD that is sort of a combination of various song writing styles found throughout the somewhat broad of spectrum of Black Metal. It’s not even that the influences are passing references, Olc Sinnsir make it very obvious as I’ve sworn I’ve heard some of these riffs before. That in its self is usually a bad thing but because they are not copying just one band per se, the collection of influences almost the gives the band a refreshing sound in the Black Metal field. One minute you’re being destroyed by a classic Immortal riff and then out of nowhere the tempo changes and the riff turns into something more akin to Abigor. What further makes this successful is the fact that Olc Sinnsir are constantly changing their tempos and riffs, usually abruptly too. In this sense the drumming by Aseal is definitely impressive as it’s very immediate and in your face. The vocal styles also change often. Andralath Svartsinn uses a commonplace harsh Black Metal style that is very intelligently done. It’s one of the reasons why I really like the vocals when Olc Sinnsir play the dark, ultra fast Abigor styled riffs over the blast beats, simply because the vocals in Abigor aren’t exactly the greatest. Complimenting the harsh style very nicely is a less harsh semi-spoken style. It’s kind of hard to describe because it blurs the line between regular singing and speaking but either way it adds interesting textures to the atmosphere and always seems to be used at the right times.

Often being very heavily entrenched in traditional Black Metal sensibilities in a musical sense, the production is no different. The guitars have the classic dark and hollow sound and everything is not overly loud nor is it muted. It’s actually close to perfect for the style of music being played, especially since the guitars have the classic chain-saw feel to them, kind of like Naglfar though not as crisp. This also helps to attribute to the bands atmosphere, which is always very important for a Black Metal group. Any given band might be well versed with their instruments or playing decent riffs but if there is no atmosphere or identity the music usually gets lost in the bunch, but thankfully Olc Sinnsir do have pleasing atmosphere. The band has purposely attempted to create music that shows their anguish, disgust, and hatred for the world and I feel the resulting atmosphere from the production and riffs is successful in that regard. There really are some gloomy and dark sections on this release, especially when the band occasionally slows things down. When the tempo slows I could almost hear Judas Iscariot, not quite as raw mind you, but close. To me, this is the main appeal of the release, the atmosphere. Even if you’re not paying enough attention to “get” the atmosphere, you’re probably still going to head bang like crazy, as Olc Sinnsir even thrown in some Darkthrone mid-paced riffs, which completely took me off guard; the best example is on Lucuferi Praeeminentia.

I should also mention the fact that a large portion of the lyrics are in French. The first track, The Coronation Of Despair, actually has both English and French lyrics, which is different. I’m usually not a fan of French vocals, I just don’t like the way they sound, but Olc Sinnsir has changed my mind for the better. The main reason for this change of mind is the delivery of the French lyrics with the aforementioned semi-spoken vocal style. It could be that I’m just not used to it, but the French lyrics give the band an even more sinister sound during these semi-spoken sections.

The main issue I have with this release is the fact that it’s not the most original, however, it’s still refreshing in its own way. As I mentioned some riffs are almost direct rip-offs from classic Black Metal bands but it doesn’t hurt the enjoyment all that much. If Olc Sinnsir stay on this track and continue to evolve their own sound I think they could be a mainstay in the populated French Black Metal scene for quite some time.