Published: February 22, 2018

netra is a one-man project from France that combines Depressive Black Metal with Trip-Hop and various other musical elements.

 

Formed in 2003 by multi-instrumentalist Steven Le Moan, netra released its first album “Mélancolie Urbaine” in 2010 via Hypnotic Dirge Records. After relocating in the city of Gjøvik, Norway, he released his second record “Sørbyen”. In 2013 Steven Le Moan collaborated with Californian Rap duo We’r...

Published: January 5, 2018

New Year's Eve. A gathering with family and friends. New resolutions and hopes for tomorrow. The beautiful lights and playful party music. Reality kicks in in the form of a hangover. Maybe you're alone or you feel like your dreams will eventually succumb to your fears. Wait, no, no. You're fine. Everything is fine… Ah, fuck it.

How hard can it be to get some peace of mind? 

How bad do you want to leave this life behind?

The harrowing scre...

Published: May 17, 2017

Oh my gosh, the grandmaster of trip hop black metal is back! From all strange black metal fusions I've heard, this project is by far the best. The all-rounder Steven Le Moan has a vision and the aptitude to effectuate it. The result is a gorgeous combination of many different styles. As a preliminary point I have to declare that you should be compatible with electronic music, otherwise you don't take delight in "Ingrats"....

Published: June 9, 2017

A few days ago I stumbled across a record label called Hypnotic Dirge Records on Bandcamp. It is a label focusing on underground experimental/atmospheric Doom and Black Metal bands. All the albums on the label are available for free download on Bandcamp (an opportunity which I used to full capacity).

One of the most interesting artists on the label is French Avantgarde Metal band/one man project netra. His music is unlike anything I’ve...

Published: May 22, 2017 

Après quatre ans de silence, Netra revient sur le devant de la scène avec son nouvel album Ingrats, sorti encore une fois (puisque on ne change pas une équipe qui gagne) via Hypnotic Dirge Records. Juste pour rappel, Netra est à la fois le nom de l’artiste et du groupe. Netra est une one-man-band fondée en 2003 par Netra qui en réalité est Steven Le Moan. Steven a beaucoup voyagé entre Quimper, Gjøvik (Norvège), l’Allemag...

Published: May 1, 2017

Netra returns and delivers us a third album to ponder about. On ‘Ingrats’ we see Netra further developing its niche. And I mean niche in the strictest way possible. Netra specialises in combining black metal with triphop, jazz, industrial, ambient and whatever pops up in the creators mind. Netra does have the capacities to execute this in a way that the songs feels natural. Not just a mere compilation of genres. ‘Ingrats’ feels mo...

Published: May 1, 2017

Original Link

*Italian version of the review can be found here

Published: April 24, 2017

Los primeros pasos de este proyecto musical llamado NETRA fueron dados por las calles de Kemper (Francia) allá por el año 2003, publicando por aquella época un par de demos, hasta que el sello canadiense Hypnotic Dirge Records tomó cartas en el asuntó y sacó a la luz el álbum debut “Mélancolie Urbaine” en 2010. Un trabajo que tomaba su inspiración de los paisajes urbanos mostrando su lado más oscuro y decadente en una comb...

Published: April 10, 2017

Netra potrebbe essere il nome di un locale in cui trovare parecchie sale dove assaporare aromi esotici ed ascoltare musiche diverse. In "Gimme a Break" potrete immaginare ad esempio, di trovarvi nella lounge room del locale, con un tizio che suona il pianoforte ed un altro che abbraccia il contrabbasso, in una scena sicuramente tinta di bianco e nero. In quella sala, chi è più attento, potrà scorgere nascosta una scala che po...

Published: April 3, 2017 

One-man outfit Netra returns after five years to unleash the very unique “Ingrats”. Mixing Industrial/Trip-hop/jazzy elements with Black Metal, this release delivers nearly 40 minutes of exciting Avant-garde music. As with the previous Netra releases, this one will keep you at the edge of your seat always wondering what kind of surprises the songs have in store for the listener.

Opening with the mysteriously jazzy “Gimme a Br...

Published: April 5, 2017 

One of the most innovative albums I have ever heard was Netra’s “Sørbyen” (2012), a bleak and atmospheric album with the unusual and effective inclusion of trip-hop. The urban street feel of that album features on the artwork of this one.

“Ingrats” is an oddball album. The short opening sequence sets the scene with its gloomy and jazzy tempo. The mood turns to violence with the harsh thrash black metal of “Everything’s Fine�...

Published: March 29, 2017

Back in the 1990’s, when underground Metal was becoming a little bit more on the map we had to go to a record store, sometimes in a dark basement of a bad neighborhood to get our fix of DarkThrone, Mayhem, and Ildjarn. Now that Black Metal is as easy to get as a burger and fries at any corner many bands and one man bands have been pushing the limits of genre crossing with Folk, Shoegaze, etc.

French act Netra blends Black Meta...

Published: March 28, 2017

Il monicker francese Netra riesce sempre a catturare la mia attenzione e ogni volta che vedo un qualcosa di nuovo non riesco a resistere e mi metto puntuale ad ascoltare. Nel suo piccolo ha imbastito, costruito una discografia di tutto rispetto, discografia che arriva oggi al terzo passo grazie a Ingrats, nuovo sfavillante e creativo lavoro su lunga distanza (accompagnato sempre dalla fedele Hypnotic Dirge Records).

La bellezza degli a...

Published: March 23, 2017

It’s been four and a half, five years since Netra released Sørbyen, seven years since Mélancolie Urbaine, and in some ways nothing has changed. Netra is still one man, playing a strange mixture of black metal, trip-hop, ambient, and a few other things. In some ways everything has changed.

Nothing ever felt forced with the first two albums, but on Ingrats everything feels like it belongs together even more. The songwriting has impr...

Published: March 20, 2017

Listening to this album for the first time is truly a rewarding experience. This may not be the first time that a black metal band injects electronic element into the music. Many have tried but failed miserably. Not to mention that the very idea of blending the two together is a lot less appealing to the purist crowd. Although this is not my first ever exposure to Netra, I can say that I am still pretty much surprised upon listening to I...

Published: March 18, 2017

The perfect soundtrack for late-night walks in the city, combining several different music genres into a coherent stream of melancholy, might be right in front of your eyes thanks to this exquisite Urban Black Metal one-man project.

Conveying images of a grey, boring and anxiogenic city life, Urban Black Metal one-man project netra is back with its third full-length album, titled Ingrats (which is French for “ungrateful”), th...

Published: March 14, 2017

From Ingrats’ opening jazzy piano and drum duo on “Gimme a break,” it’s apparent that one-man experimental black metal project netra is taking on the genre from a more sophisticated headspace than the torch-bearing, forest-wandering forefathers of the genre. It’s easy to connect the dots to more progressive-leaning artists like Ulver or Altar of Plagues, and to a lesser degree, Norway’s Shining, but those comparisons f...

Pubished: March 11, 2017

Druhý pohled (Zajus):

Existuje jen málo umělců, jejichž oznámení nového počinu by mě dokázalo zvednou ze židle, ale po zjištění, že Netra plánuje nástupce „Sørbyen“ jsem radostí doslova vyskočil. Tenhle chlapík se objevil zničehonic a přinesl s sebou zcela unikátní styl na desce, která se místy (a nepřeháním) blížilo dokonalosti. Netra jednoduše dosud neudělal krok vedle a od „Ingrats“ jsem ...

Pubished: March 11, 2017

Jen stěží lze tuhle recenzi začít jinak než vzpomínkou na „Sørbyen“. Když se mi album dostalo do ruky, byla pro mě Netra ještě neznámým projektem, ale to se záhy změnilo. V nahrávce, od níž jsem nic zvláštního nečekal, jsem našel perlu, která bez váhání míchala špinavý black metal, trip-hop, darkwave a náznaky jazzu do unikátního celku s omamnou atmosférou a obrovským skladatelským levelem. T...

Published: February 27, 2017 

Norway’s Netra captures the monotonous dreariness of city life, giving a completely new twist on multiple genres. Favoring interesting arrangements over riding on the novelty of its approach makes “Ingrates” the project’s most consistent record to date.

COMPELLING MELODRAMA

Consisting of French musician Steven Le Moan, Netra uses depressive black metal as a springboard into various shades of dark ambient, darkwav...

Published: March 6, 2017 

What I Like: I almost passed this one over originally, as I was not a fan of the band's opening single "Everything's Fine."  This was a lesson in not being too hasty, because this track does little to indicate what to expect from Ingrats as a whole.  While this opener provides a relatively traditional approach to noisy, atmospheric black metal; the majority of these tracks tread much more heavily into the industrial and drone genres.  ...