French metal just keeps growing and maturing over the years. Not long ago, France really didn’t have much of a metal scene to speak of. But with the emergence of Gojira and a good chunk of black metal bands, it feels like the scene in France is becoming a forece.
Alcest comes back with a new album that just further solidifies them as one of the more consistent and classy bands going. What you have here is sort of a mixture of post-metal, black metal and shoegaze that blends together into a hypnotic swirl of soundscapes. This latest album feels like the band has embraced a little more of their black metal past with the addition of more black metal screams than on the past couple of records. But even with the more frequent use of black metal elements, this album as a whole still retains that signature Alcest quiet melody over the harsh blast beats of traditional black metal bands. The result is just a relaxing and meditative album. Even though the lyrics are sung entirely in French, there is still plenty on here with which to engage (for us English speakers, anyway). The emotion of the songs primarily comes through the delicate melodies. In certain respects, this album reminds me a little of how Russian Circles goes about presenting their instrumental songs.
4 flip flops out of 5
