Band's List Avantgardiste Black Sleeping Peonies Slowlydisappearing

This is really mellow stuff, like really really mellow. It even passes Alcest's first album in terms of how safe and easy this music is. If it wasn't for the harsh vocals then this is one of those albums that would probably be found on your tween bopping sister's ipod. It really is hard to describe how unbelievably safe Slowlydisappearing actually is, the best way to describe it would be Slowdive with screams or something along those lines. I'd like to point out that by Blackgaze standards there's very little Black Metal actually incorporated into this, the guitars are distorted sure but they're soft and melodic. There's no tremolo picking to be found or anything else that resembles Black Metal playing. Even the harsh vocals feel diluted, being very weak and lacking the power that Black Metal screams are known for. It sounds like the vocals are trying to mimic the howl of despair style used in Depressive Black Metal but the result comes off as very weak and way too forced. This is borderline Black Metal plain and simple, even Alcest on Écailles de Lune and Le Secret had their harsher moments, something that I could safely call Black Metal but for Slowlydisappearing I'm finding it really hard to comfortable call real Black Metal. The music has far more in common with a band like Slowdive and the vocals are clearly not a Black Metal shriek. That's not to say that this isn't a good album but it's just not Black Metal, not really.

The music on Slowlydisappearing is unimaginably poppy and melodic, the music lacks any metal esque aggression and overall it's happy, soft and uplifting. The distortion on the guitars is very safe, yes they are muddy but it doesn't make the album feel raw or evil. There's a lot of effects used on them and the riffs drone on creating a hypnotic and ethereal wall of sound. The vocals are subdued in the mix and have a nice dreamy quality to them. The clean vocals are wonderful and sound like a lower pitched Neige, like Neige they carry the seraphic quality. They're a wonderful addition to the album and are certainly better than the harsh vocals.

The overall music on Slowlydisappearing is incredible, the music is very melodic and angelic. The distortion on the guitars is amazing for what it is as it allows everything to be heard perfectly, the melodies are amazing and the clean guitars and keyboard work is brilliant too. This band is often labelled as Black Metal but don't esxpect the sound to be remotely close to Burzum or Darkthrone. The music has far more in common with all those dreamy Shoegazing bands rather than any Black Metal band. Hell this is even less Black Metal than Alcest and they aint the most Black Metal band around. If you're going into this thinking you'll get an actual Blackgaze record then think again, this is pure unadulterated Shoegaze.

The keyboards compliment the music nicely, being very angelic and melodic. They carry a lot of atmosphere with them and add a lot of weight to the album, giving it a lot of room to breathe and to flow. The keyboard work on the third track Cemetry Kisses is by far the best with a melody that wouldn't be out of place in a Blackmill song (he's a Melodic Dubstep produced for all those out there who don't know him). They're highly atmospheric and compliment the music nicely.

Unfortunately the harsh vocals are the only thing about this release I don't really like and they're also the reason why I held off listening to this album for so long. They're really weak and don't carry any power or aggression whatsoever. Thankfully they're buried rather far back in the mix and don't detract from the atmosphere too much. If the harsh vocals were changed to an actual Black Metal shriek then the vocal front would no doubt be improved.

To show you how this record isn't Black Metal I shall get the definitions of both Shoegazing and Black Metal as found on Rateyourmusic and I'll leave you to decide which genre you think best describes Slowlydisappearing.

Shoegazing: Taking cues mainly from both Dream Pop and Noise Pop, as well as from Neo-Psychedelia and Noise Rock, the typical Shoegaze sound is a wash of instruments blending together. Guitars are typically distorted into droning or feedback drenched textures, and the group itself strives to create a 'wall-of-sound' atmosphere that takes a noisy, distorted approach and/or a lusher, more 'dreamscape' sensation. While vocals and melodies do exist, they are subordinate to the overriding sensation of the song, and melt into the background.

Unfortunately the Rateyourmusic definition of Black Metal isn't the most informative so I will have to resort to Wikipedia. Their definiton is as follows- Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, shrieked vocals, highly distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, blast beat drumming, raw (lo-fi) recording and unconventional song structures.

So I think I've cleared that this is by no means a Black Metal album but really there's nothing to put you off this album as a whole. Slowlydisappearing is a wonderful album and there's a lot to enjoy even if it isn't the harshest or blackest release ever put forth. Personally I don't mind listening to soft albums every once in a while and this album easily satisfies my needs. Although they haven't changed their sound since their conception they're still producing excellent Shoegazing.
Overall Rating- 16/20