In recent years, Black Metal has demonstrated a surprising versatility, transforming from a simple vehicle for blasphemy or misanthropy into a privileged medium for historical and documentary storytelling. If acts like ANTRISCH have managed to freeze the blood by evoking polar expeditions, and 1914 have dragged listeners into the mud of the Great War trenches, the challenge for bands seeking their own identity today is not just to “play” a theme, but to become that theme. The true gamble lies in atmospheric mimesis: the ability to sonically recreate a specific, tangible, and oppressive environment. It is precisely within this groove that the French band GALIBOT – self-proclaimed pioneers of “Métal Noèr” – fits. With “Euch’Mau Noir Bis”, the group does not take us to snowy peaks or battlefields, but forces us to descend into the bowels of the earth, among the asphyxiating tunnels of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais mines. It is crucial to emphasize that “Euch’Mau Noir Bis” is not a simple reissue, but the definitive evolution of a concept. Compared to the original 2024 version, this release represents a necessary work of refinement: the six original tracks benefit from new arrangements, and most importantly, new mixing and mastering. This technical care has not sterilized the sound by making it too clean; on the contrary, it has given three-dimensionality to the grit, allowing the “anomalous” instruments to emerge more decisively from the wall of guitars. Further enriching the tracklist is the inclusion of ‘Schlamms’, a track that originally appeared on the 2022 “Wallers-Arenberg” demo. This is no mere filler: the track has been completely re-composed, re-recorded and integrated into the album’s narrative fabric, serving as the perfect bridge between the band’s raw past and its current compositional maturity. Musically, the album is a waking nightmare coated in coal dust. The use of the Ch’ti (Picard) dialect in the vocalist’s desperate screams adds a layer of inaccessibility and rural authenticity that standard French could never convey. But it is the orchestration that truly strikes a chord: the use of brass (trumpets, trombones) and accordion does not evoke village festivals, but rather their specter. It is the sound of a working-class fanfare distorted by fatigue and illness, a melody resonating out of tune between walls of rock. GALIBOT succeeds where many fail: they transmit the physical sensation of claustrophobia and silicosis. The guitars buzz like industrial machinery, the rhythm section is as heavy as a pickaxe striking stone, and the new nuances in the mix allow the listener to fully appreciate the melancholic decadence of the folk interludes. In conclusion, “Euch’Mau Noir Bis” is a work of extreme musical anthropology. It is a difficult, harsh and intentionally “dirty” record, but a necessary one for those who seek Black Metal’s unique ability to tell the forgotten stories of the invisible – of those who lived and died in the dark. www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61567284970527, www.facebook.com/ladloproductions