We’ve hit one of the biggest release weeks of the year, with a plethora of highly anticipated albums coming out. New albums by Broken Social Scene, the Hold Steady, Flaming Lips, Flying Lotus, Minus the Bear, the New Pornographers, Deftones, and plenty of others.
One album that has been highly anticipated but by a slightly different group of people is the new album by French band, Alcest. The creative force behind Alcest is frontman Neige, who has spent time in black metal bands such as Peste Noire and Amesoeurs. Écailles de Lune is Alcest’s second album and continues their shoegaze meets black metal sound they established with their debut full length, Souvenirs d’un autre monde.
While hearing the term black metal, you could completely dismiss the album immediately if that’s not your thing, but you’d be doing yourself a great disservice by doing so. Having more in common with shoegaze acts Ride or Slowdive than black metal acts such as Burzum, Alcest are doing something not unlike what Jesu has done with doom metal; turning something that is associated with bleakness, desolation and aggression into a blissed out shoegaze leaning mountain.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser."Écailles de Lune: Part I" from Alcest's Écailles de Lune
Tags: alcest, Record of the Week
