Review: Pénombre – “Demo 2026” (2026)
Pénombre’s Démonstration MMXXVI (8/10). This Québécois Black Metal demo blends Oi melodies with folk-heritage roots to create a powerful, soil-born manifesto. Read more!
Band: Pénombre
Album: “Démonstration MMXXVI”
Genre: Black Metal
Country: Quebec (Canada)
Label: Musique Souterraine
Released: February 1st, 2026
Introduction:
The year was 2017, and out of the Québécois scene came a trio… and the rest is history. It is fairly well known how much the Black Metal scene from Quebec has grown, and these lads are part of the reason. The delicate melodies, wrapped in aggressiveness and a sort of folk-heritage-related scent, are all it takes to propel it to never-before-seen heights. I might be biased. I tend to get myself utterly entangled in black metal that sounds exactly like Pénombre—or Feufolet—where the listener is taken on a journey where the melodies sound, smell, and almost taste like home.
Tracklisting:
- Ça viendra
- Ton absence fait rage
- Deux sangs
- La narration du défunt
The Album:
The band’s destination has no dark castle, nor do we have to cross an enchanted forest; the band’s destination is filled with political essence, with soil and home, with blood and Quebec. Soundwise, how does this replicate into music, you might ask? Pénombre has a definitive Black Metal basis, of course, to which they add Oi melodies, which makes it almost perfect. Slow to mid-paced Black Metal with Folkish melodies, and we are served the best of the best.
This is the band’s first, and hopefully not last, release of 2026. A short, yet powerful, representation of the band’s sound and creativity. The samples, here and there, give the music a richer ambience and overall completion. Pieces of the same puzzle, d’you know what I mean? Like Feufolet, Pénombre has a very distinguishable sound, I dare say; “Ça viendra” starts off the Demo perfectly. That guitar riff, the dynamics in the whole structure of the song, the vocals that add melody and give a “special touch”. All ”in all, top-notch composition. At the same time, and being a Northerner, their music has the ability to make me feel at home, as it always reminds me of snowy nights and frozen mornings.
Conclusion:
Once again, the Québécois trio pours, into music, emotions; emotions that transcript into manifestos and melodies; melodies that haunt the minds of those that feel placed as causers of harm and injustice. Music is not just music, and it will never be just music: music is a vehicle, a message. Pénombre gifts us emotions, Pénombre gifts us art.
BMZ rating: 8 out of 10
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