Fournier Self-Titled Review
FOURNIER
Fournier
Caligari Records
2026
My metal nerddom tells me that the far-reaching genre of death metal has torchbearers from across the globe, yet I don't know of too many that hail from New Zealand. I mean, if you've had your ear glued to the genre's underground (and I have for over 3 decades now), then you know of Ulcerate, Dawn of Azazel, and Diocletian, but I'm hard-pressed to think of many newer bands from the Kiwi country. That is until today, when the blistering and disjointed self-titled 4-song EP from Fournier landed at my desk.
Fournier (from the web) is a French surname meaning "baker." It stems from the Old French word fournier, which derives from the Latin furnarius. Historically, it referred to someone who managed the fire of a communal oven or baked bread in a manor. Given the intensity and barbarity on display here, I'm guessing these guys mean something far more nefarious (manning the furnace and baking humans, perhaps?). If these songs are any indication, Fournier specialize in dissonant, doom-tinged death metal long on atmosphere and big on old-school histrionics.
As a trio (Joe Wright - vocals & guitar, Daz Murray - guitar, Jeff Lepper - bass guitar & drums), they prove capable of a massive sound that equals blasting sections, droney open strings or chorded guitar lines, monolithic chugging, mid-tempo marches, and unsettling soundscape-y intros and outros. The EP was produced and engineered by Joe Wright, with mixing by Chris Johnson at Electric Bunker in Boston, MA, and mastered by Zach Weeks at God City Studios in Salem, MA. The end result is a vintage '90s production. Properly raw, yet discernible across the board. My one complaint is that I wish the vocals were a bit more up front and the guitars had a bit more clarity. But here again, the production fits the sound they're conjuring. "Cast Adrift" kicks it off with an eerie intro before plunging into a triplet-laden double-kick groove behind low gutturals. Then tremolo-picked riffs give way to blasts and shifting, snaking, ominous guitar lines. The chromatic breakdown is a nice half-time change before settling back into murky 6/8. "Constructing the Ark" punches forth with mid-paced chug and double bass amidst flourishes of blasts and more serpentine, notey fretwork and those angry (yet buried and cavernous) growls. Wright's vocals have a David Vincent (Morbid Angel) mid-range low feel, so they don't veer too far into gurgling gutturals; they fit exactly where they need to. "Supreme Ornaments" begins with a prime Testimony-era Pestilence minor harmonized intro, building to more tremolo-picked blast-beat main riffs that then go into more half-time double kicks, d-beat, blasts, and 6/8 plod again. This is the highlight track for me here, due to its many changing parts, especially when they utilize those droney chordal guitar lines at the end of the song. The final track, "Angel With A Bullet," takes us home with the most cruelly composed tune here. It's everything I mentioned above, but it seems they saved this one for last, as it's the angriest and fastest track amongst them all. The entire record ends with the same eerie intro, though serving as more of an outro this time.
Fournier are a formidable death/doom act that showcase a fondness for all things a bit lo-fi, ugly, avant-garde, and utterly crushing. If you long for the days of the old RC logo on your CDs or cassettes with Dan Seagrave cover art and Scott Burns producing, then they have you covered. They aren't purely revivalists; there are plenty of nods to the golden age of death metal, but they also provide enough variance, coupled with their own spin on things in each composition, to appeal to old and new heads alike. Fierce, oppressive, and more than worthy of your blood-splattered time...
RIYL - Morbid Angel, Immolation, Timeghoul, Hyperdontia, Phrenelith, and Engulfed
~TB