Redemptor Hominis is a black metal band from France. That’s not a very challenging first sentence to start a review, is it? Please be warned. This black metal project is actually a one man show. S. is the one who is responsible for the music and I. and J. deliver their vocals with as end result: Prémices 1 - 10.

Normally one man projects tend to light up my flame, because it can result in such a perfect dynamic whole. Unfortunately, Redemptor Hominis showed me that lack of inspiration can force it into a completely wrong direction.

To me it was dreadful to have to listen to the album without the urge to stop it somewhere during II – Inde, Viae et Lacrimae. Believe me when I say I don’t like to write negative reviews, because the time it takes me putting the sentences together is an even bigger waste than the few minutes you need to read it.

What can you expect when listening to Prémices 1 – 10? Mostly fast beats, melodies that sound alike and some keyboard that every now and then seems totally out of place. I can’t believe there are two vocalists on this album, because I only hear a man talking at a whispering tone and another man who sounds like he has a frog in his throat (yes, that’s a bad thing).

The disappointing thing is that S. seems to have some great potential when you listen to the individual keyboard parts and guitar riffs. It’s just when he mixes it all together the strength of the individual parts leak away, which is a terrible shame. The sample of something that sounds like the wind at the end of IV – Omnium Mortalium Vitae Est Misera announces the outro of the album and, I hate to say it, but when realising it seriously is the end of the album, it feels like a relief.