LES DISCRETS - Septembre et ses dernières pensées - 7/10

French shoegaze is so... French


Les Discrets are a band that creates music full of grey landscapes, sounds emerging from a milky fog, shoegazing passages reminiscent of fairy-tale drawings rather than fairy-tales themselves. Released by Prophecy Productions (Alcest, Antimatter), SEPTEMBRE ET SES DERNIÈRES PENSÉES is a dreamy, emotional, very bleak and most of all, quite successful album.

The sound suits the music perfectly. Production is clean yet quite organic and subdued. Guitars sound heavy when it's needed but Les Discrets stick to their post-rock and shoegazing side most of the time. To enhance the dreamy atmosphere, vocal lines are treated with reverb. I must say that vocal style of Fursy Teyssier is definitely an acquired taste, though. He's drawing from both shoegaze and post-punk styles and while I'm not completely convinced of his singing skills, reverb makes his performance more tolerable.

After a few hours with the music I began to realize how diverse influences one can find in the album. At first listen, SEPTEMBRE ET SES DERNIÈRES PENSÉES seems to be an ordinary french post-rock/shoegaze album in the vain of Alcest or Amesoeurs. Obviously, there are similarities among them since all these acts share at least one band member, but Les Discrets seem to be the most interesting of all of them. Stylistically, the band draws from post-rock ambiance and shoegaze arrangements but such genres as post-punk, black or doom metal are noticeable in the music as well. Not to mention very well crafted acoustic parts, deeply rooted in the neo-folk tradition.

Fans of Alcest may love this album. I think it's one of the best efforts that French post/shoegaze scene has to offer. Even if you're not a fan of the style, there's enough of enchanting passages and emotion-provoking melodies, to get interested any fan of atmospheric rock.

UNEXPECT - Fables of the Sleepless Empire

"Demon of the Opera: or, Surreal Rollercoaster: or, Mercy! My head is on the edge of overheating!"

This is an intense piece of avant-garde metal. I mean INTENSE. Unexpect's third full length record is an unrelenting beast, spawned by Ascendance Records. On its musical way it has devoured such genres as klezmer music, symphonic black metal, opera, electronic, jazz, classical chamber music and some other tasty styles that stood on its way. Oh my... It seems it's about to devour... YOU!

Such a dense and complicated record requires a crystal clean production. So, if you're looking for a fuzzy sounding and discordant avant-garde, you won't find it here. FotSE is a perfectly produced album with an impeccable sound. Every instrument (vocals, violin, guitars, 9-string bass... wait, what?!) has its space in the mix and thereby is easily distinguishable in the wave of sounds this crazy bunch bombards us with.

A book could be written about the music played by Unexpect. I must admit that on the first listen I was completely overwhelmed by its diversity and intensity. While the album may seem a bit inconsistent at first, its strange coherence becomes apparent with time. Unexpect are unbelievably talented songwriters and skilled musicians. Their mix of dark cabaret ambiance, modern electronic spices, chamber orchestrations, extreme metal impetuosity and progressive virtuosity, seems to be performed without effort. While sometimes I get an impression of thematic overload, the fact that it's a well-flowing album is undeniable. Most of all though, I think there's something that makes this intricate music surprisingly accessible. It's either beautiful vocal lines by the frontwoman Leilindel or Unexpect's great talent for thrilling passages. Well, both of them I guess.

Extraordinary. Intense, intriguing, technical and... brilliant. List of adjectives goes on and on. With this almost perfect creation, Unexpect has proven that virtuosity doesn't have to deprive the music of soul. That should be an important lesson for some leading prog metal bands. I can't help but admire these people, admire them for creating this exacting, surreal and emotion-provoking journey. I'm happy I've set out on it.

CLOUDKICKER - Beacons

Silent film

I have really mixed feelings about that record. Cloudkicker's second album, BEACONS, is undoubtedly very interesting effort and given the fact it's released for free, it's even more awkward to rate it with 3 stars. I promise, I'll explain myself. But now for something completely different...

Damn those tricky one-man baaands! They use computer generated drums and think they're cool. Well, they are. Cloudkicker is anyway. Both his drums, guitars and bass sound convincing. As for drums, they're not as realistic as drum set from hell in CATCH 33 by Meshuggah but still realistic enough. Guitars feel a bit too sterile for my tastes but the fact they're heavy and perfectly executed is undeniable. For a homemade album the sound is just amazing.

Less original and more personal yet still technical. That simple phrase describes the music in BEACONS pretty well, but I'll elaborate on the subject in order to seem more intelligent. So, despite being an instrumental collection of songs, BEACONS is a concept album with a story told in... song titles! It's a story about a plain crash, or should I say a desperate report from the crew, just before the crash. I must say that's what's best in the album - dramatic tension that pervades the whole concept is thrilling. It's like a silent film created with sounds instead of images. Stylistically, Cloudkicker went completely opposite way of what I've expected though. Instead of developing his progressive side, Ben Sharp focused on drama and more traditional approach to riffs and melody. So-called djent is still there, but now it's more of a spice than a defining factor. Don't get me wrong, it's an album loaded with excellent riffs and emotion provoking build-ups ("Amy, I love you" shines here) but its repetitious nature makes it tiresome just too many times.

All in all, BEACONS is a solid album with some great features and some really bad ones too. It's still among the best records in djent as it presents a new approach to the style unlike the mass of young djent bands that have nothing interesting to offer (besides making Meshugah's style more accessible and melodic). If you're into post metal, you may love it. Well, get it to find out, it's free anyway!

GRAYCEON - All We Destroy

Hello, this is cello

Chamber metal. Hah, perfect name for a style Grayceon presents on their third full-length record entitled ALL WE DESTROY and released by Profound Lore Records, a label renowned for hosting such bands as Agalloch and Altar of Plagues. It is dark, imaginative, organic, unusual and very, very genuine concept album. And there's cello. And the cellist is a woman. And she sings in the album! Mother of God!!!

"Organic" and "chamber" are the words that come to my mind while listening to ALL WE DESTROY. Thanks to masterfully performed, downtuned guitar passages, the sound is not flat, despite the absence of bass guitar (cool, right?). All instruments sound both natural and clean. The production is organic to the extent of giving me an impression of a live concert in a little music club! Really, really great work.

The music played by Grayceon is called chamber metal as it incorporates chamber orchestration provided by the cellist Jackie Perez Gratz and "pickless" yet heavy guitar playing by Max Doyle. Alternatively it's often tagged post metal for it's diversity of genres from outside the metal one - classical, post-rock and progressive rock music. Songs in ALL WE DESTROY are full of well flowing passages and despite their length, every track seems to have its own identity. They drag on a bit sometimes but hey, none of them is overdone! As for vocals by Mrs Gratz, there's still some space for improvement but it can be safely said, that her relatively low pitched voice and emotionally charged singing can send a shiver down your spine.

Grayceon is gradually mastering an incredibly demanding style they have created and become more and more self-confident with every album. While ALL WE DESTROY can be a bit tiresome experience, its freshness and beauty outweighs all of its drawbacks. If you're into chamber music, yearning for fresh approach to progressive metal or just want to experience something genuinely emotional, get this album!

ALCEST - Écailles de lune

A bit schmaltzy

There was quite a lot of hype around that album in metal oriented media, praising it for beautiful atmosphere and enchanting melodies. I'm not that enthusiastic about it though. ÉCAILLES DE LUNE, being the second Alcest release, is indeed a charming yet a little bit shallow piece of post metal.

Now, production is great. As the record is often referred to as a black metal album(I don't get it, is it because of these 3 minutes of hellish shrieking in the second track?), I must say the sound is polished and clean. It kept enough of its natural state to be called organic though. Most of all, the producer did everything she/he could to enhance dreamy atmosphere of songs that Neige plies us with.

I'm a big fen of Fan (Fen of fen...? right, fan of Fen!), a British post black metal band, so I hoped Alcest would sound somewhat similar. While both bands can be described as a combination of black metal, shoegaze and post rock, proportions are completely different. Alcest's ÉCAILLES DE LUNE is, first of all, a shoegaze/post-rock album with some black metal leanings. Vocals are mostly clean, treated with strong reverb and somewhat hidden in the mix. And they are shoegaze vocals which I don't like that much. The biggest problem is the music though. Don't get me wrong, there are moments of bliss while listening to ÉCAILLES DE LUNE but some schmaltzy parts just spoil it for me. I think restrained songwriting is the thing Neige should work on, because his songs just miss some of the imagination you can hear in Agalloch's or Fen's music. Still, there's enough of great passages and skillfuly written compositions to consider it a solid album.

For fans of post-rock and shoegaze this is a real treat. ÉCAILLES DE LUNE is a successful combination of shoegazing melodies and post rock atmosphere - all seasoned with a pinch of black metal rawness. Despite the fact it somewhat lacks in depth, I can still recommend it for its well constructed songs and originality in terms of style. And... wait, lyrics are in french! Awww, I take back all negative things I've just said!!

MASTODON - Blood Mountain

Trample! Trample! TRAAAAMPLE!!!

Holy mackerel, Mastodon! You're trampling my mind like an enraged Cysquatch after blunt knife castration! That's one of the most energetic albums to ever emerge from sludge, or even whole modern metal scene. I got into Mastodon's music not so long ago and I must admit that there are both things I love and dislike about their music. However, BLOOD MOUNTAIN is definitely an album that contains mostly the things I like about it. In my opinion, it's the second best Mastodon's release after CRACK THE SKYE.

Production of the record is very good but could have been better. While drums, especially bass drum, sound heavy and organic, there's something in the way they're produced, that irritates my ears. I guess the snare drum is to be blamed for that as it sounds a bit flat. Anyway, the whole sounds heavy and clean and it's not overproduced. Still, I think both LEVIATHAN and CRACK THE SKYE have better production.

As many reviewers have already stated, the record can be considered as a transitional episode between sludgy and aggressive LEVIATHAN and spacey/progressive CRACK THE SKYE. Stomping sludge element is still most prominent one, but experiments with song structures and spacey/psychedelic and progressive rock influences have become more noticeable. Most of the compositions are galloping sludge metal songs with Mastodon's typical leanings towards punk-ish aggressiveness combined with stoner metal feel (especially in the case of Brent Hinds' vocal delivery). Plenty of time signature changes, complex structures and incredibly compelling, unmistakable drumming by Brann Dailor, determines BLOOD MOUNTAIN status as a modern progressive metal album. I think the biggest drawback this record has, is the fact that there are no songs I consider to be masterpieces. Mastodon's great talent for long and complex compositions manifested in their following release, but here - despite a few absolutely fantastic songs - it's still underdeveloped. Besides that, I found some tracks to be simply uninspired or even terribly annoying ("Bladecatcher"-> what the hell is that? electro-grind-core-stoner metal?).

All in all, BLOOD MOUNTAIN is a very good eclectic progressive metal album, deeply rooted in sludge metal genre. If you're into aggressive and energetic metal with a twist, this record is for you.

CRYPTOPSY - Once Was Not

Keeping the Cadaver Dogs Busy

Cryptopsy is undoubtedly one of those bands that try their fans fidelity every now and then. On ONCE WAS NOT they underwent another transformation, this time into more experimental, jazz-fusion influenced (and still very technical) grind/death metal band. I must admit it was a very welcome change, as I'm not a huge fan of either BLASPHEMY MADE FLESH/NONE SO VILE era, or even less WHISPER SUPREMACY/AND THEN YOU'LL BEG one, with terrible vocals by Mike DiSalvo.

The album is produced in a modern but a bit odd way and while I really like it, I think it's an acquired taste. The drums are very high in the mix - just behind vocals - with strong, punching bass drum and very organic snare drum and cymbals. Bass and guitars are kind of hidden so during blast beats they tend to be a bit drowned out... but still, I think a perfect balance between organic, brutal sound and selectivity has been achieved here. Cryptopsy presents here some of the most unrestrained songwriting ever heard in deathgrind. The record is pervaded with an atmosphere reminiscent of a surreal trip through cold, post-apocalyptic world where horror and comedy merge into one grotesque amalgam. With the use of jazz-fusion-inspired riffs and clever industrial undertones, the band managed to create nine well-flowing, brutal, wild and unpredictable compositions. The stuff Flo Mounier's doing with his drum-kit is just beyond belief. Brutal, well flowing and jazz influenced drumming combined with painfully technical and jazzy axe-craft from Alex Auburn make this album a compelling experience. However, combined with rasping and unintelligible yapping by Lord Worm, the music takes on a whole new dimension. It's weirdly organic and surprisingly technical. I'd even say it's scary and oh yes, it's absolutely fantastic!

That's a bold album by Cryptopsy and I think one of the most interesting death metal efforts out there. Despite being a little bit inconsistent, it still has an uncanny atmosphere and most of all, it boasts some of the most well-flowing brutal death metal. If you're looking for a different approach to death metal without sacrificing brutality, this album is for you.

PRIMORDIAL - To the Nameless Dead

"Bruce Dickinson of black metal"

I don't remember where I've read those words above, but I hope I do no harm to the author by quoting her/him here. Anyway, Primordial's frontman, A.A. Nemtheanga, is a damn good vocalist. He uses black metal growling very well, but his clean vocal skills and incredible charisma are what makes him unique. He has a strong voice somewhat reminiscent of Bruce Dickinson, with the difference that his vocals are obviously harsher, more aggressive and, well, simply primordial.

TO THE NAMELESS DEAD is a monumental work of metal, immersed in disturbing atmosphere of ancient and dark times of Roman Empire and the barbarians from the north. This very consistent and original idea is performed with great riffs and mature guitar harmonies, dynamic drumming and emotional, powerful vocals. Riffs are still rooted in black metal in a way, but the musicians draw from outside the genre as well. You'll hear doom metal harmonies, heavy metal influences and brooding folk metal atmosphere here. It's the first time in their career I can say that the production is fantastic - harsh yet clean, heavy and natural sound emphasize dark and uncompromising character of the work. The record sounds like an impeccable live album at times, and this is a compliment in this case. The most important thing about that though, is this rare feature that so few musicians can boast of - ability to move the listener by the music filled with genuine, breathtaking passion and almost heartrending emotion. There are very rare moments of monotony - sometimes Primordial keeps developing and/or playing one theme for too long.

It is a musthave for any atmospheric metal fan. If you like raw celtic folk, early Opeth, Amorphis, Septic Flesh or any other kind of atmospheric extreme metal, check it, really, it's worth it.