Douce Morphine is a gothic/ambient style French group. « MMVII » can be downloaded freely on the group’s site. This mini album is composed of three songs.
The vocals are shared between Flore and Matthieu, rather high pitched clear vocals for Flore, and death metal vocals for Matthieu. Besides these vocals we also have male and female declaimed parts. The guitars are heavy and the drums relatively powerful, but the bass guitar is not much heard. « Frondaison » begins with some notes at piano, rather dark tracks with rather slow riffs in a doom style and a piano which stays present all through the track. The second track «Le Mal De Vivre » is a track with frequent rhythmic variations, of melodies with a somehow progressive part; it is also the longest track of the album, more than 7 minute. On « Le Soir Gagne » the male vocals are more brutal.
The group mixes cheerfully power and melancholy in these three dark ambiences tracks. At the end only three tracks, but relatively varied. If musically I think that it is rather a success and that the group has a certain potential, I am a little sceptic about the vocals, especially Flore’s one that I find too linear. It still is a group to discover.