Conor Fynes 'Ã?cailles De Lune' - Alcest (9/10)

Throughout post-metal circles, the name of Alcest has been one that is chatted back and forth alot lately. A French one man black metal project that incorperates the starkly mellow and ethereal sounds of shoegaze psychedelia, this band has become one of the more highly regarded bands in the genre, even after only two records produced. With frontman Neige's second effort with this solo project, the sound of Alcest becomes more defined, and what we have with 'Ã?cailles De Lune' is a beautiful piece of emotionally stirring music that carries quite a bit more emotion that your typical heavy metal record.

In a sense, it may be unfair to consider this album 'metal,' the energy generally infused with the genre is sacrificed for a much more introspective sound. While there are maybe one or two sections throughout the album that make liberal use of blastbeats and Neige's high pitched shriek, 'Ã?cailles De Lune' relies very heavily on it's mellowness and quiet beauty. The main focus of the music is on the beautiful textures of the guitar work, and Neige's clean vocal work, which may sound a bit too fragile for some, but works with the emotionally vulnerable mood of the music.

The first half of the album is dominated by the two part title track, 'Ã?cailles De Lune.' While the first two songs here share the same name, they can generally be considered separate compositions. They do, however make up the heaviest and darkest component of 'Ã?cailles De Lune,' and maintain a clear distinction from the rest of the album. The best moments on the album are when Neige takes things to their most mellow and beautiful; the latter half of 'Ecailles De Lune II' and the absolutely blissful closer 'Sur L'Ocean Couleur De Fer' make use of both the tastefully spacy guitarwork and the higher-key vocal work. While the lyrics here are in French and cannot be understand merely from listening, the lyrics have a very poetic resonance to them, and carry well with the ethereal nature of the album.

The album keeps a generally dark, melancholic sound throughout. The only exception to this is the uncharacteristically cheerful and upbeat 'Solar Song,' which is really the only moment on the album that feels out of place, despite it being a decent alternative rocker. Barring that, 'Ã?cailles De Lune' is an incredibly moving and beautiful release. The brooding nature of the music can wear thin at times, but there's no doubt that Neige is a talented and distinguished member of the post-metal scene. A perfect album to listen to at night.

Conor Fynes 'Tristesse Hivernale' - Alcest (4/10) Now one of the most legendary and revered names in the blackgaze and post black metal circles, Alcest has developed into quite a unique entity since first starting off here. When Alcest frontman and mastermind Neige was only 15, he began his work with Alcest with 'Tristesse Hivernale', an incredibly raw piece of atmospheric black metal. Here, Alcest is still a band as opposed to a solo project, and fairly typical for most black metal. Although incredibly poor production values (even for black metal) rob 'Tristesse' of being a wholeheartedly enjoyable experience, there is promise shown here that would be fully realized in later works.

'Tristesse Hivernale' is made of twenty minutes of howls, rough electric guitar work, somewhat simplistic blastbeats and some of the worst production values I've ever heard from a band I care about. The saving grace here though is in the composition of the music itself, which while hard to listen to at times, still really shows a grasp of the genre that many of the bigger names at the time were getting recognized for. It may be difficult at times to hear the riffs unless one listens closely, but even this early on, it is possible to hear the emotional impact of the riffs. Although there is very little of Alcest's shoegaze elements to speak of here, things do get mellow from time to time, which is much less hindered by the weak production than any of the heavier material.

Certainly a demo only for the fans of Alcest or black metal purists, but as weak a listening experience as this may be, the potential can be heard here.

Conor Fynes 'Souvenirs d'Un Autre Monde' - Alcest (7/10)

When Alcest's second album 'Ecailles De Lune' came out, I became instantly enamoured with the music of this French post metal band. Now backtracking through this project's earlier work, I have heard them back when they were a pure black metal act with the demo 'Tristesse Hivernale'. Having a solid context and knowledge of how Alcest has developed over the course of a decade, I can appreciate 'Souvenirs d'Un Autre Monde'- Alcest's debut- for what it is; the project's frontman and mastermind taking several steps back from the metal vista towards his more atmospheric influences. Make no mistake, the music on 'Souvenirs' is not black metal, as is the genre that most associate with Alcest. Instead, this debut album takes the listener on an uplifting and dreamlike journey, played in a style called shoegaze. Although 'Souvenirs d'Un Autre Monde' is driven by a very tame palette of sound, the emotional gravity of the work is undeniable.

Although it is quite clear that Neige took the Alcest project to a new echelon with the sophomore, 'Souvenirs d'Un Autre Monde' already has many of the things I first fell in love with the band for' incredible melodies, dreamy textures, and the distinctively mellowed and effete vocals of Neige himself, which are typically washed into the mix in fair shoegaze fashion. Each track here is quite simple in construct and performance for the most part, often relying on uplifting chord progressions and added layers of string plucking or leads to add to the richness of the sound. Although the songs rarely change their direction much from where they first set off, the songwriting here is indeed very pleasant, even if it is a little on the simplistic side. Neige has a naive way of executing the music here as well; his vocals can sometimes sound a little amateurish, but they do manage to strike a feeling in the listener; the closest comparison may be Jonsi of Sigur Ros, but Neige does have a particular sound to his voice that would certainly be difficult to find anywhere in the metal genre.

All of the music on 'Souvenirs' flows much like a dream, and perhaps the only major flaw to the album is that it all flows in the same direction, at the same pace. Very rarely does a song ever throw in an unexpected curveball at the listener, or even cover much of an emotional variety. Instead, Alcest is deadset on one particular sound, then milks it for all its worth throughout the course of the debut. The debut feels quite novice, but the beauty and heartfelt nature of Alcest's music is heard deeply here. Although now in the shadow of the vastly superior 'Ecailles De Lune', 'Souvenirs' remains a pleasant debut from a band who seems fixed on bringing dreams to life.

Conor Fynes 'Les Voyages De L'Âme' - Alcest (7/10)

For a genre of music which is infamous for often basing its content on male bravado, gore, misanthropy and depression, it takes some serious balls to be a metal band that looks to fairy tales and uplifting emotion in their music. Alcest may have once been a typical black metal band a decade or so ago, but this project has since dissolved their ties to a dark sound, now gravitating towards an atmospheric mix of post metal and shoegaze. Led by frontman Neige, Alcest's sound culminated in 2010 with the masterpiece 'Ecailles De Lune', an album which ranked as my unlikely favourite of that year. Although I rushed to the opportunity of hearing a sample from this follow-up to 'Ecailles' about a month ago, the song 'Autre Temps' had me worried that Alcest had now fallen into a strict formula for their music, and that I could not hope to be surprised by the band any longer. Although 'Les Voyages De L'Âme' is a worthy follow-up to my favourite album of 2010, my fears are sadly confirmed; Alcest's third record feels like a reprise of ideas and sounds from their past. While 'Souvenirs D'Un Autre Monde' and 'Ecailles De Lune' took their listeners to two separate- albeit similar- realms of fantasy, 'Les Voyages De L'Âme' is a nostalgic return to the second.

People will cry the familiar 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' rationelle, but I think 'Les Voyages De L'Âme' might have felt more otherworldly and atmospheric if it didn't sound so damned familiar from the first listen onward. Alcest's music is full of vast reverb, emotionally stirring guitars, and the presence of seemingly out-of-place drum blastbeats; an homage to the time when Alcest was a straight-up black metal act. Neige's voice is the most distinctive sound of the band, a soft clean vocal that often wanders about the higher register rather loosely. There are also black metal shrieks, but there are even less of those this time around than on 'Ecailles'. With a conventionally beautiful sound that is instantly pleasant to the ear, Alcest will attract listeners who don't usually like metal. The black metal elements are scarce, but they are there, and it makes them a perfect potential gateway to heavier, darker sounds. Although Alcest have spawned a legion of clones, their sound remains individual and unique. Even at the most intense moments of 'Les Voyages De L'Âme', things never feel dark; there is always a soaring melody to keep the listener planted firmly in the light.

'Les Voyages De L'Âme' is a move for Alcest that reminds me much of what Wolves In The Throne Room did with their last album 'Celestial Lineage'. Instead of experimenting with something new, they chose to further develop the ideas of their best work and see where it went. For Wolves In The Throne Room, that album of inspiration was 'Two Hunters'. In Alcest's case, 'Ecailles De Lune' is the most obvious palette from which Neige draws his brush. 'Les Voyages De L'Âme' is a sequel in every sense of the word; a slightly different angle of what is essentially the same thing. In terms of differences, 'Les Voyages De L'Âme' is more optimistic than the often melancholic 'Ecailles'. The listener is meant to feel light and hopeful the entire time through. Although this album achieves that feeling in me, there is nothing else in the music to contrast it; no conflict, no tension. As a result, 'Les Voyages De L'Âme' does not have that same lasting emotional impact that 'Ecailles De Lune' was graced with, despite being nearly as successful in terms of its musicianship and composition.

'Les Voyages De L'Âme' will always be compared to its predecessor, and in the end, I think it will be 'Ecailles' that enjoys the status of a 'classic'. This album has all of the traits that have made Alcest great in the past, and 'Les Voyages De L'Âme' is good, but there isn't much here to set the album apart as an independent work. My insistent complaints aside, this is a great way to star the year.

The Truth Although it's definitely a step down from the previous record (it would've been hard to step above it anyway) Alcest continues to wow his audiences this shoegazy and droney brand of post-metal.

The atmosphere is about on par with the Escailles de lune which makes the album one worth listening to but the songs themselves don't have the conciseness that the previous record did.

Don't get me wrong, they are all songs that are way above par for most projects out there, but I guess I was just expecting something a little more after EDL. I have attempted to put that behind me but still whenever I want to listen to an Alcest album I avoid this one and go straight to Escailles.

It's still an album people need to check out, it wouldn't be how I'd introduce people to the project but it really does need more attention than even I give it.