Andyman1125 Intoxicating.

Now a days, I tend to find less and less truly 5 star albums. I've widdled my rating process from 5 stars if it's "great" to 5 stars if it's genius. I need to be wowed first time through, and continue to be wowed each other time true. Écalles de Lune, Alcest's sophomore effort, is no doubt one of these cases. Encompassed by breathtaking melody and dazzling aggression, the album shows the side of "black metal" that caters to those who don't particularly care for ice-cold ferocity and never ending riffs and blast beats. The album contains a tender innocence known to very few albums. Now, to fuse black metal and virtually any other genre is a risky business, often ending in an awkward and noise abusing experience. Alcest, however, has deftly maneuvered around this daunting prospect and pulled off by far my favorite black metal album yet to be released.

The title track (translated as Moon Scales, or something like that) blasts forth with a somber shoegaze riff not of this realm. I have never really been a huge fan of shoegaze or post-rock, but this is certainly one exception, along with Sigur Rós's Ágætis Byrjun. The 18 minute epic is an exciting journey, expertly fusing in divine transitions mellow guitar passages with thrusting black metal riffing, skipping any of the uncertainties of black fusion. Both parts contain a truly celestial aura, feeding any who thirst for that perfect blend of..... well a perfect blend of pretty much everything. As I found on maudlin of the Well's Part the Second, the music is so perfectly crafted it seems that very little could ever surpass it in it's unprecedented grandeur. Not lacking metal in any sense, this amazing two part track is, well, perfect, in virtually every way.

Percées de Lumière continues this incredible string of pure music, although with a more popularly leaning guitar melodies and shoegaze feels. However, the track still encompasses the essential things that I love about music.... all of them. The song, which has a much harder rocking feel than the previous two (or one, whatever floats your boat). It keeps a constant rockability to it with less spacing out (which isn't a bad thing at all). Overall, the track is again a masterpiece of black fusion.

Abysses is a somber atmospheric ambient piece, making a very mellow and haunting transition to the next track.

Solar Song is again much more popularly leaning, or as far popularly leaning a genre such as this could possible lean. It has very accessible melodies while at the same time retaining the amazing sense of experimentation and shoegaze mastery put into the album. Overall, this tracks is yet another fantastic track on this masterpiece of an album.

Sur l'Océan Couleur de Fer is another very somber and mellow track, with much less rockable black riffing and more melodic guitar work and great vocal melodies also. The track functions as a beautiful guitar solo by Neige. It ends the album on an uplifting and symphonic note, slowly graduating through boughs of ecstasy and bursts of joy. Overall, this is another one of the greats on the album, ending one of my new favorite albums of all time and a pure masterpiece.

ALBUM OVERALL: I don't think I can really say very much more. I've looked. I can find nothing wrong with this album, perhaps maybe popularly leaning melodies in some songs, which can easily be seen as good. The album is as some people call an "eargasm;" the first time I listened to it's pearly sounds my ears did nearly hum in a joyous celebration that another life form has in fact made a great masterpiece of modern art -- celebration to the minds of humanity! Truly, this album touches my heart and my mind in a most divine way, making this an instant classic in my log of insta-classics. 5+ stars.

bonnek Alcest combines UK shoegazer pop with atmospheric Black Metal. That may sound like the most unlikely marriage ever, but actually it's not the first time it was tried. Ulver made the same combination on their debut 15 years ago. And the result was equally successful.

Black Metal has an inherent tendency for developing thick atmospheres; it's one of the things that sets it apart from Death Metal which concentrates more on musical technicality. Plenty of Black Metal bands can be named that combine their harsh aggression with ambient dreamy music, next to Ulver, Agalloch must sure be mentioned as an outstanding example of that combination. In case of Alcest the atmospheric mix is pervaded with a Floydian spacey-ness.

So, the people allergic to Brit-pop are warned, but still they shouldn’t discard this album completely. The pop and emo factor is non-existing here. This is very lush and magical music, just like My Bloody Valentine, Pale Saints and Lush used to be. Both clean vocals and Black Metal shrieks are used and both are a perfect fit for the eerie atmosphere created here.

The album flows with a natural grace but never hits me the way Agalloch, Ulver or early Katatonia do. The reason is the songwriting, which is very adequate but never outstanding. There’s also too much focus on shoegazer and too few original elements. A track like Solar Song could have come right out of any 1990 UK indie album. But in comparison to some of those albums, Alcest is just a tad less accomplished. To give just two examples, I find The Comforts of Madness from The Pale Saints or Ferment from Catherine Wheel much more adventurous and diverse albums.

Ecailles De Lune is a very good album that may appeal to goth, shoegazer and atmospheric metal fans alike. It misses an element of surprise and a songwriting eminence to reach true excellence but it comes close. 3.5 stars

Phonebook Eater 7/10

"Ecailles De Lune" is a dreamy, blurry album that could be easily one of the best of 2010.

French Black Metal band Alcest releases in 2010 their second album, most definitely one of the best of the year. Sublime, intriguing, and beautiful, a certainly a great black metal album , quite original and unusual, and with an enigmatic and dreamy touch, which sometimes incarnates shoegaze.

There aren't too many Black metal growls, in fact only two of these six songs present them, so Experimental Metal seems like the perfect subgenre for Ecailles De Lune. Like I previously said, all the songs are full of enigmatic atmospheres, thanks to the dreamy guitar that gently plays, a perfect nocturnal atmosphere. We also in some moments can find many shoegazing, maybe not as strong and noisy as traditional bands of the genre, but still present.

The title track is divided into two parts, the first one more dreamy and melodic, the second more violent, so it presents growl vocals, even though there is still a big sense of haziness. Percees de Lumiere is my least favorite, kind of strong, even though still the style is the same. after the beautiful interlude, Solar Song kicks in. this is most definitely the song with most shoegazing influences. The melodies is catchy and haunting, the vocals are clean and beautiful, the guitars enigmatic. Fabulous song.

The last track is another wonderful masterpiece. There are no drums in this piece, so you can imagine how calm and relaxing, but at the same time haunting the atmosphere is.

In conclusion, an album that really moved me, a must listen for anyone who is interested in black metal or Experimental metal.

Vehemency Personally, I think that Souvenirs d'un Autre Monde is one of the most beautiful albums ever released. The summer-like nostalgia was something beyond everything, so my expectations were really high when Écailles de lune was released. Luckily I didn’t have to disappoint, even if this new album doesn’t quite reach as far - of which I'm not entirely sure yet.

But how could it reach, and does it even need to? It’s better not to always compare a new work to an earlier one, especially in this case where Écailles de lune is both thematically and musically slightly (but just slightly) different. In a way, Écailles de lune is more aggressive in that it includes quite a lot of blast beats and back are also Neige’s harsh screams (which are, by the way, one of the best sounding ones in that area). That doesn’t, however, mean that Écailles de lune sounds downright angry, because from the inside Alcest sounds still as beautiful as in 2007. Not frost-bitten or enraged, just sweet drifting on a shore next to a deep blue sea at night. From this perspective I could say that Souvenirs d'un Autre Monde is a summer morning while Écailles de lune is the beginning night of that same day.

One thing that I am a bit disappointed with is the length. The third track ”Percées de Lumière” was released on a split a few months before this album, which means that in a way Écailles de lune provides only three new songs - if the two-part title-track is considered as one song and the short ambient humming of "Abysses" is excluded. Short running time is not a terrible thing and it’s always a bless that an album is not prolonged, but Écailles de lune does leave me a bit too hungry.

Anyhow, Écailles de lune provides an incredible journey from the furious speeds of ”Écailles de lune (Part II)” to the calm yet epic semi-acoustic album ending of ”Sur l'océan couleur de fer”. A funny thing is that I already know that this album will sound even better in a month or two when summer (again I seem to repeat that) kicks in. Only time will tell if Écailles de lune reaches the level of the debut full-length, but even if not, it is one hell of a beautiful album anyways.

Any Colour You Like When I heard that Neige was releasing his second album this year I was more than excited. His debut album Souvenirs d'un autre Monde was an exciting album full of lucid charm and sonic goodness, but it just seemed to lack something, a certain emotional hook.

There is no question that Ecailles de lune has that hook. Beginning the album is the two part titular epic Ecailles de lune. Part one begins with dreamlike soundscapes, that soon gives way to typical Alcest riffing, mixing heavy, distorted guitars with heavenly vocals and keyboard sections. The track progresses through lurid ambient breaks and charging mid-tempo riffs. Part two showcases a similar style, this time combined with Neige's harsh black metal vocals. But don't worry, the album isn't typical blasphemous black metal, the theme of the album actually relates to love and loss at sea. It really is quite benign when you think about the conceptual meaning of the lyrics.

To focus on the black metal vocals is really missing the point of Alcest's aesthetical concept. This album is gorgeous. Lush, beautiful, epic and soothing, these are all terms never far away from my train of thought when I hear Ecailles de lune. Pierces de Luminere and Solar Song both showcase the shoegaze roots of Neige's style, combining abrasive riffs with simply stunning soundscapes. The closing track Sur L'Ocean Couleur de Fer is quite possibly the most beautiful movement Neige has ever created. Which is high praise in itself. If I had to sum up that track, and indeed most of the album, it would be sitting on the edge of a lake, watching the sun fall behind the horizon. Yes, it is almost perfection.

There is little I can say that will dent my love for this album. It the astonishingly beautiful, and has taken several steps ahead from Neige's debut effort. The more diverse soundscapes and powerfully developed emotional hooks mean that Ecailles de lune is a truly memoralble listen. Even the abraisive black metal vocals sound better than any I've ever heard before. Oh, and what a cover.

The Truth Originally posted by yours truly on ProgArchives:

This is a treat to the ears, it really is.

Very rarely do I hear albums that have a particular sound to them that make me really want to replay them over and over again just wanting to delve deeper into that sound that I hear. That's what this album does, it's a multi-layered, textural, and groundbreaking post metal masterpiece.

It contains that certain quality that I love about post rock and post metal recordings, an atmospherically dark and epic sound, and that makes me love it as much as I do. I have replayed it numerous times since first listening and each listen seemingly has more reward for me.

A truly great album that has a certain sound that I've found hard to come accross anymore. I love every second of it.