Écailles de Lune along with Exoplanet by
The Contortionist,
Far Away From the Sun by
Sacramentum, Absence by
Noumena, Hvis Lyset Tar Oss by
Burzum, Zrcadlení Melancholie by
Trist, Róka Hasa Rádió by
Thy Catafalque, and Something
Wild by
Children of Bodom; is one of the few albums I would consider perfect. I love everything about this release, the music, the vocals everything is brilliantly executed.
Now if you're into Black
Metal then you no doubt are aware of
Alcest. This band has been dividing the opinions of Black
Metal fans since day one. One half is over ecstatic about them believing Neige is transcending the genre and bringing it into new and exciting territories the other half(mainly the purists) don't get all the hype, refer to
Alcest as boring and pretentious and also say "it's not Black
Metal". Okay how the hell is this release not Black
Metal? It's got the shrieked vocals and the hazy, tremolo picked dissonant riffs. Yes it has some non metal elements thrown in mainly Shoegaze. But apart from that the sound is clearly rooted in Black
Metal. The only things that aren't Black
Metal about this release is the lyrics and the image. But when have they ever been the decisive factors in what genre something is?
Never in my personal opinion. Now I personally believe that Black
Metal is able to reach out and incorporate lots of new sounds into the mix. I don't believe that it should stick to the same formula popularized by the likes of
Darkthrone and
Burzum. As much as I love these bands I just don't feel that all Black
Metal bands should follow the same formula. Black
Metal shouldn't be confined to just one particular sound, it should be able to expand, and create new and original varieties of it. This release is a perfect example of this, the sound is rooted in Black
Metal but it incorporates lots of different elements into it.
The main phrase that gets thrown around when describing the music of
Alcest is Shoegaze. Now I'll be honest with you here this isn't a genre I was too familiar with when I picked it up. In all fairness I've never listened or even heard of the genre before I started getting into this variety of Black
Metal commonly referred to as Blackgaze or Post-Black. Now if you know of Shoegaze bands like My Bloody
Valentine, Slowdive, and Bailter Space you're probably thinking how can that be mixed with Black
Metal. I probably would have felt the same if I knew what Shoegaze was when I heard of this band. Black
Metal and Shoegaze seem to be polar opposites. Black
Metal is barbarous and feral where as Shoegaze is calm and serene. But surprisingly there are a few things in common with them.
Both favor hazy distorted guitars and both Shoegaze and some Black
Metal bands (mainly those of the atmospheric variety) specialize in creating dreamy soundscapes though in differing ways.
Alcest creates the perfect mixture of both of these genres. Though this release does lean more towards Black
Metal rather than their other two releases there is still a hefty amount of Shoegaze present on this album. The most notable usage of this is the fifth track
Solar Song that does away with a lot of Black
Metal elements and the final track which has no
Metal incorporated into it what so ever.
The Black Metal elements present on this album are brilliantly written and executed perfectly. Neige's vocals are astonishing. He doesn't use the usual Black
Metal rasp but instead favors more of a high pitched shriek. They're very harsh and feral and fit perfectly in with the rest of the music. The riffs are very good on this album. They are very melodic and memorable. Although they're not as shrill and buzzing as conventional Black
Metal acts they still have a hazy, dissonant essence to them. One thing that I really like about this release is the usage of clean guitars. Clean guitars seem to be quite uncommon in the Black
Metal scene. Though they are used quite often in Melodic Black
Metal and Depressive Black
Metal they're sparse in conventional Black
Metal.
Alcest pulls off these sections brilliantly and they are at times breathtakingly beautiful, they're a perfect fit and help to make this album an absolute masterpiece.
I wasn't paying much attention to the bass and drums during this album because I was too entranced by the hypnotizing guitars and the magnificent vocals of Neige to pay much attention. But they do offer quite a bit of variety in how they are played. The drums actually offer up some differing rhythms and beats. This is a welcome change from the constant blast beating that dominates most of the genre. The bass also offers up some good parts. The bass eschews the usage of the old formula of mimicking the guitars. The bass is most prominent in the third track Percées de Lumière, it offers up some good parts and offers a great back drop to the guitars.
This is a great release and as I previously mentioned is one of my favorite albums of all time and one of the only few I would consider perfect. I can't find anything negative to say about this release it's that good. If you're looking for some forward thinking Black
Metal that isn't afraid to transcend the genres boundaries then you can't go wrong with this one. If you're just getting into
Alcest I would highly suggest listening to this one first as it is no doubt their best release. If you didn't like
Alcest's first album then I would still recommend picking this up as it is vastly different in style and it may just change your mind about them. Of course this album will do little to convince the purists but I've never been bothered about their opinions anyway.
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