Nehëmah - Requiem Tenebrae (2004)

Looks like it's time for another entry in my ongoing series, "All of My Favorite Black Metal is French." Compared with that of many of their fellow countrymen, Nehëmah's music is relatively traditional -- icy riffing, choral keys, throaty rasps -- but it's dynamic, emotionally compelling, and masterfully executed, especially on this, their third and (thus far) latest album. The whole record is phenomenal, but the sprawling, hauntingly sorrowful "Taken Away by the Torn Black Shroud" deserves consideration as one of black metal's finest compositions.

Track listing:
1. Creeping Chaos
2. The Great Old Ones
3. Dead But Dreaming in the Eternal Icy Wastes
4. The Elder Gods Awakening
5. In the Mists of Orion's Sword
6. Taken Away by the Torn Black Shroud
7. Conscience in Evil
8. Through the Dark Nebula

I will sleep with the dragon