It's been a while since I've received anything from French experimental/noise/industrial label Cioran Records, and I think that goes back to Camecrude in 2021. I can always tell a Cioran promo when it arrives before I even open it; they use all black packaging with handwritten lettering for my address. According to the promo sheets, Flagorne is the project of experimental black metal artist Maquerelle and industrial hardcore producer Afga061. Now just because I've never heard of these guys before doesn't mean you haven't, but unless you live in Europe, I'm guessing you probably haven't either. No matter, talent doesn't have to have a reputation to be good, and for what they are, these guys are pretty darn good.

'Les Couleurs D'une Fievre' ('The Colors of Fever') is five tracks in a mere 38 minutes, but you don't always need an hour's worth of material on an album to make a point, and Flagorne certainly makes its point emphatically, which happens more often than not in the industrial harsh noise genre. First track, "Salutations" begins on the lighter side of noise with an almost industrial ambient demeanor, but when Maquerelle comes in with anguished ranting in French, it won't matter if you know what he's saying or not. A little more than halfway through the noise, ranting and tumult gives way to a calmer but creepy electronic ambience with distorted speech and other odd sonic effluvia. While that track rolls seamlessly into "Addresses," it takes on thunderous bottom-heavy percussion and totally insane chaotic instrumentality with screaming vocals drowning in the morass. This is quite a lot to bear for five minutes, even for the most seasoned noise enthusiast. (Gotta love the snare hit and vocal "GAAa" at the end though. "Devore" seems almost the inverse of the previous track, but with a very strong sequenced beat and old school percussion that are reminiscent of Neubaten and Throbbing Gristle. Very industrial, and almost rock, with plenty of shock. Gotta love this track! I even like the way it peters out at the end with the eerie whistling. "De rien de bien" begins with loops that sound like a broken vintage videogame, but after only a little over a minute in, the crunchy medium tempo beat begins with more ranting from Maquerelle, and now we've got a real scene going on here. Just when you though it was getting a tad too repetitive, the scene changes to a beatless purgatory before plummeting into the hellscape it was always destined for, and Maquerelle ain't gonna let you forget it.

What I really like about Flagorne is, that as noisy as they can be (and that's a plenty most times), they temper it with non-harsh, sonically interesting passages. That is very evident on final track "Comme plusieurs" where the initial music is ominous but not overwhelming, and Maquerelle's vocals are more sung than ranted or screamed, somewhat in the style of a muezzin, rather than anything in the industrial rock vein. (Hey, he's got a really good voice too.) Strange, but oddly delightful and almost dream-like. For a debut, this is a stellar album.