Review: Hasard – Abgnose

Style: dissonant black metal, symphonic black metal (harsh vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Blut Aus Nord, Deathspell Omega, Thy Catafalque, Imperial Triumphant
Country: France
Release date: 5 September 2025

Hazard (lone artist behind Hasard and Les Chants du Husard) is clearly a weird dude—he’s French, after all. And he takes after his compatriots, including the leaders of dissoblack’s earliest innovations (Blut Aus Nord, Deathspell Omega), as well as several of the most famous existentialist philosophers (Sartre, Camus). Abgnose, sophomore record of Hazard’s Hasard project, draws major inspiration from his forebears in both regards. Thankfully, the music is much more innovative than the lyrical point of view.

Philosophically, Hasard is banal for edgy black metal bands. Clearly drawing from the lineage of the aforementioned Camus and Sartre: “Abgnose is a testament to the greater force that governs our lives… pure chance. There is no greater entity… Just count the here and now, as there’s no afterlife.” High school level absurdism at its finest. Hazard channels this brand of slightly optimistic dread into extremely twisted and nightmarish music, sounding like a version of Aquilus from Tartarus—that is, full of unnerving orchestrations. Starting with a base of punishingly loud and painfully dissonant black metal, Hasard melds horns and strings into the core of Abgnose’s sound.

Hasard excels at composition, the five lengthy tracks never overstaying their welcome and effortlessly cycling between tempos, level of orchestration, and vocal styles in dramatic swells. Hazard’s songwriting follows the ebbs and flows of successful film score music. For instance, the chunky nine-minute opener “Oniritisme” oscillates between vile trem picked riffs and dark, horn-led sections reminiscent of Imperial Triumphant’s earlier work. Around the halfway point of the track, Hazard strips back the densely layered instrumentation to just vibrato-laden violins and a sibilant unease. At the track’s most symphonic near its end, “Oniritisme” is brilliant, the horns cutting through the hellish murk in a triumphant brassy climax.

Yet when Hasard’s unique symphonic flair is less present, Abgnose suffers from several problems: a poor lead guitar and keyboard tone, frustrating production, and some melodies that transcend creepy and evil straight to just mildly annoying. The bright and off-kilter guitar can be draining to listen to after the hundredth disorienting tremolo-picked lead, while Hasard often utilizes a style of keyboard I can only describe as a “cheap horror movie” sound, like a haunted player’s piano clacking away (or like label mates Sleep Paralysis). The symphonic instruments are put together with much more care and MUCH better attention to the timbral quality of the record. Abgnose is suffocating in large part due to its mix which, despite somehow boasting a dynamic range of nine, is deafening with little to no differentiation between the foreground and background layers—a serious problem given how intricate the composition and instrumentation are on the record. I’m all for getting lost in nightmarish, stream-of-consciousness music, but despite the emotive and lively composition, parts of Abgnose are as impenetrable as a brick wall, leading to a serious hindrance in replayability. The muddied production doesn’t do the dynamic composition justice. 

The last major critique is self-explanatory; one can only hear so many ostinato-ing horror movie melodies until they grow tedious. Each spin, I reach my breaking point by penultimate track “Antienne Estrale,” leaving the finale title track to be a superfluous addition. And in that sense, Hasard is successful at his gambit: he has driven his listener to madness. Unfortunately for him, I don’t think that makes for particularly fun listening—madness induced by campy horror textures and bad production isn’t as authentic as from deeply unsettling dissonance and labyrinthine structures. There’s incredible potential buried deep within Abgnose’s tracks, but Hasard needs to perfect the style to go along with his substance.

Recommended tracks: Oniritisme, Negascendance
You may also like: Aquilus, Les Chants du Hasard, Sea Mosquito, Creatvre, Sleep Paralysis
Final verdict: 6/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Instagram | Metal-Archives

Label: I, Voidhanger Records – Bandcamp | Facebook | Official Website

Hasard is:
– Hazard (everything)