Interview: Houle
Photo taken by 𝔉𝔞𝔞𝔩𝔩𝔞𝔴𝔞𝔶
Hailing from France, Houle is a fascinating concept black metal band focusing on mariner life, the ocean, and the chaos of life at the sea. It’s a brilliant theme for a band in a genre known for beauty and chaos colliding. When I first heard their latest album, Ciel Cendre et Misère Noire, I was absolutely entranced in the furious, yet melodic approach to their craft.
It was a pleasure to catch up with the band for the opportunity to dig deeper into the mariner black metal band’s ethos and musical inspiration. That said, turn on their music in the background and enjoy the interview!
Thanks so much for joining Blacforje for an interview! You all are based in Paris, France. Is that right?
Hi Blacforje, thanks for your time and interest!
We are all living either in Paris or close by, indeed, but we come from various places in France. Paris was the place we all met and started playing music together. It’s the big city - lots of musicians, lots of opportunities!
How is the black metal “scene” there? Is there such a thing?
The French black metal scene is very much alive and quite exciting! The fanbase is extremely devoted and loyal, and this makes black metal one of the busiest scenes in the whole “metal” spectrum in France, together with hardcore (probably).
France has a rich history in black metal, with legendary bands such as Mütiilation, Blut Aus Nord, Seth…
However, today, younger bands have emerged and are drawing quite the attention - Regarde Les Hommes Tomber, Pensées Nocturnes, Silhouette to name a few.
Perhaps we don’t tour internationally as much as bands from other countries, which is maybe why it gives the impression that the scene is smaller, but the audience is there and always hungry for more shows and music!
For our readers unfamiliar with your band, can you tell us how Houle came about, what the thematic elements are in your music, and what inspires you all as a band?
Houle is a melodic black metal project that was created by Crabe, the lead guitarist of the band. The word “houle” translates into “swell”, the distant and repetitive waves that create the perpetual movement of the ocean, hypnotic and powerful.
After arriving in Paris, Crabe felt the need to reconnect with his home region of Bretagne, in the west of France, and chose to do so by starting a musical project based off of the landscapes of Bretagne, its relationship to the ocean, the storms, the fishing, etc.
Our first EP Houle, released in November 2022, depicted the ocean almost as a god, sometimes generous and other times threatening. However, when composing our debut album Ciel Cendre et Misère Noire, we felt we wanted to concentrate on the men and women living by the ocean and their relationship with it, their fears, their hatred…
Your most recent album titled Ciel Cendre et Misère Noire is an absolute masterpiece! When my colleague Alex Hawkins told me about you, I immediately was hooked. How do you feel listeners have responded to the album since its release in June of 2024?
The response to the album was overwhelmingly positive!
We did prepare the release of CCMN quite a bit by releasing our first music video prior to the album release, doing a photoshoot in a ship graveyard, etc. But the response really made it all worth it.
Although we released the album in the middle of 2024, we were surprised to see how often it was featured in end of the year “Top Albums” lists. This meant that it had really stuck into people’s heads!
Our EP from 2 years ago was maybe a little more “raw”, whereas the album had more epic and “heavy metal” intensions behind it. This got us both praise and critics, but in the end, everyone had a say about it, which is always better than indifference.
With this release, we also got a lot of new listeners from outside of France which was quite new to us, and it shows that the language barrier is actually not that important!
Photo taken by 𝔉𝔞𝔞𝔩𝔩𝔞𝔴𝔞𝔶
So, what’s the fascination with the sea, and why do you feel that melds with black metal?
The ocean is indeed a fascinating topic. When you think about it, it has everything to blend perfectly with the emotions sought in black metal: violence, nostalgia, melancholy… The Sea represents mystery, death, the unknown... It is great, everlasting, incredibly powerful. It can be the gentle giant and well as the bringer of chaos.
Our music is two-headed and has always been. One head represents all these dark emotions, the aggression and chaos, the violence, pain and death. The other is nostalgic, dreamlike, and hypnotic. Together they create a painting of all sides of the ocean - destroyer and provider.
Bands are made up of individual members with their own views of life and philosophy, which I concede. However, if you would amuse me, I like to ask people about their spiritual and/or philosophical worldviews. It gives us a deeper perspective of you as people and as musicians.
That said, do you all have a shared or similar worldview both spiritually and philosophically, or are you all over the spectrum as individuals?
As individuals, all five members of Houle are very different, whether it be in their perspective of our world or in their characters. Some are outgoing and extroverted, others are shy and introverted.
You discover a lot about others when touring together, good and bad. But with good communication, it all goes quite well.
I also believe Houle has also helped all of us in our personal lives. We have built a very close bond, similar to that of a family, because with the band we probably found a sense of accomplishment, purpose, and belonging that we lacked before.
Other than what we’ve discussed so far, what other aspects of the band do you think are interesting for fans to know about you?
We think that the live aspect of our music is one of our strengths. Today, we try our best to have a live performance that captures the energy and the atmosphere of our music, whether it be musically or visually. While we compose, we also think of how to perform our music, and we make sure everything recorded can be played live.
Houle has always been a project made to be played live. It’s something that we as a band enjoy, because it is extremely rewarding. We are also concertgoers ourselves, and because we value quality shows that we attend, we try our hardest to bring out the best of ourselves when playing live.
Another important aspect is that we are not a Lovecraftian themed band. We did not want to take that route. We tell tales of mariners, of saddened family members awaiting the return of loved ones, of drowning one’s sorrow in alcohol… Stories of men and women speak harder truths than those of legendary creatures, and perhaps this resonates with a lot of our listeners.
Last question: Do you think pirates of the 16th to 19th centuries would be bigger fans of black metal, death metal, or power metal if they were alive today?
Good question!
To be honest, we do not share much with pirates and pirate themes overall. It is quite far from our “lore” and music, though some people do sometimes associate us to it. Our interpretation however is that they would probably be halfway between jolly and ruthless. So, perhaps a mixture of power and death metal. Who knows!
