RR22 Bonjour Tristesse - Par Un Sourire Formed in Germany in the winter of 2008, Bonjour Tristesse is a vegan straight edge band from Munich that plays a style of black metal that is considered to be of the depressive ilk. Focusing on the oppressing everyday life in capitalist societies, the neverending struggle for freedom, and the crisis between civilization and the environment, the artist weaves a symphony of sadness, alienation, and inner emptiness with a sense of strength that arises from unabashed resilience and standing alone in the face of adversity. On January 16, 2017, Bonjour Tristesse released their debut full-length album Par Un Sourire through Replenish Records.  100% of the proceeds from the digital downloads of the album will be donated to Earth First! Journal at http://www.earthfirstjournal.org in order to raise awareness and publish news from the eco-wars, direct action resources, informant tracking, and prisoners. Pressing Information: Vinyl [ Test | Black | 5 ] [ 1 | Clear with Black & White Splatter 180gram | 100 ] [ 1 | Black 180gram | 150 ] [ 1 | White 180gram | 250 ]
"On Par Un Sourire, Bonjour Tristesse offer up six tracks of oppressive and bleak sounding black metal, post metal, and doom.  Overerall, Par Un Sourire makes for a killer listen and definitely should not be missed.  Highly recommended!"  Dead Air At The Pulpit "German black metal project Bonjour Tristesse has made available the Par Un Sourire album.  Par Un Sourire is a re-release of the debut album which was partly re-arranged, additional guitars were recorded, samples were replaced, and the whole album was remixed and remastered."  BraveWords “After becoming aware of Bonjour Tristesse, it was clear to me that the debut album Par Un Sourire was not exactly average black metal.  The production of the whole album is quite well done and clear.  I really liked the musical fusion on Par Un Sourire, because with many different parts of the recording, it never gets boring and he tends to shed his soul to the listener.  Four out of five."  Stormbringer "In the background you remember a mixture of old Burzum and Shining, which is particularly noticeable in the guitar sound.  The production offers both the extremely distorted and faded sound of the 90s, as well as again and again very clear leads, which represents a nice contrast and breaks Bonjour Tristesse out of uniformity.  The drums are slightly pushed into the background, but very powerful and pleasant to hear.  The screeching vocals are not too much in the foreground, but serves primarily as an additional instrument, which adds to the overall sound picture an additional bonus.  Since I think it would be pointless to make a track recommendation here, I can only recommend the album as a whole, as long as you have the patience.  8.5 / 10"  Black Salvation "The multi-instrumentalist and singer, with this project, is totally focused on his roots and relies on minimalistic, depressed black metal, which renounces foreign influences and is entirely confined to the undisturbed mediation of the dark side of human emotions.  As is well known, DSBM does not necessarily have the best reputation, which is primarily due to a number of one-man troops, who are more concerned with depression on the other level with the simplest riffs.  Fortunately, Nathanael with Bonjour Tristesse is far from this scenario and already collects with the convincing production plus points, which sounds unusual for the genre and still retains the characteristic feeling of emptiness.  Par Un Sourire does not appear to be so extraordinary, but what makes the music stand out from the crowd is Nathanael's hands for gripping and unused riffs, which can always go deeply under the skin and touch against all stereotypes.  In addition to this are the unusual screams, which are clearly different from the technique used and which sound more like inhales, but still move on a high level and add the necessary pinch of despair to the music.  As it is easy to guess, Bonjour Tristesse works in suicidal black metal and the best.  Especially since Nathanael, the sole master of the place, has already proved with Thränenkind that he was not hermetic to this copulation yet often inept.  On the album are six titles, six pearls written in black ink of despair, melancholy odes of a secret garden that the musician plows to express his suffering.  His guitar weaves a repetitive web whose wires are cables of sadness to mention only one of these complaints all of which look like desolate hymns.  7.5 / 10"  The Black Horde