Review: Alcest ‘Les Chants De L’Aurore’
As I sit down to write this review (later than I had intended) I find myself buoyed by a sense of tentative hope for the UK, the subject matter whilst obvious I’ll keep clear of here, but it has an interesting correlation with the new album, Les Chants De L’Aurore, the seventh full length from Bagnols-sur-Cèze based French blackgaze maestros Alcest.
Since 2000, the band that originated as a black metal solo project for multi-instrumentalist Neige has evolved over their near twenty-five-year existence. They’ve become a benchmark for the infusion of indie-lite melody and tenderness into the icy cold, raging fury of blast beats and screams which has seen them influence bands that may have surpassed them in the public consciousness, like Lantlôs, Deafheaven and Harakiri for the Sky, but have seldom bettered them in a phenomenon that has become known as blackgaze.
Time has undoubtedly changed their approach as age has leant perspective and the band has long developed an enviable smoothness to their seamless ability to transition from intensity to otherworldly shimmering delicacy without the effects being jarring or feeling forced.
Unlike their noisy State-side neighbours Deafheaven, who grabbed headlines in the past for daring to put a pink cover of all things on their Sunbather debut, their embracing of increased melody over time has remained tempered with the abrasive, and whilst possibly Alcest’s latest album could be described as their most intimate, it is not a full on switch to the mellow side of things like Infinite Granite was.
Coming nearly five years after their last outing, Spiritual Instinct, an album that was critically received with a degree of coolness, Alcest found themselves in a much-changed world. Having been forced to take a break from the relentless touring that defined the previous decade for the band, Neige and longtime drummer Winterhalter were granted a reprieve to recharge. With an ever increasingly fractured world that has seen the rise of right-wing ideology across the globe, especially in their own native country, the Frenchmen returned to their own ideological roots and sought to embrace the dream-like beauty of the childhood Fairy Land that inspired the frontman in the first place.
The resulting seven-track album was born, not just out of this rediscovery, but also a return to old school techniques in creation; hiring an old house and playing as a band, injecting the songs with an organic feel and a hope that speaks as a direct reaction to the darkness of the terrorist attacks on their home, making the album a transcendent piece of detached beauty.
Slowly, the opening track Komorebi fades into consciousness and at once Alcest are stately and majestic. Winterhalter’s drumming joins with a chilled out, but thumping drumbeat, the listener is transported to a place that is brimming with soulful intimacy. Neige’s vocals are soft and warm, lilting in French over the rich synths and guitars that somehow drift, anchored by the contrasting hi-hat.
The core desire to create something filled with harmony and light never fades, even when they quicken the pace with the transition into shuffling drums and a harder edge as you are never far from delicate indie guitar and a choral sway.
Even when they glide into grinding metal complete with screaming, they never lose sight of their end goal of keeping that upbeat feeling of hope…
L’Envol teases the briefest feedback before a deep, floating swell. Once again, the picked guitar flourishes that blur the lines between the black metal genesis of the band and the enveloping powerful blissed out passages make Les Chants De L’Aurore seem like a whisper of some beautiful promise. Even when they glide into grinding metal complete with screaming, they never lose sight of their end goal of keeping that upbeat feeling of hope.
The angular, moodier Améthyste might be the pick of the bunch with the urgent drumming, mid pace grooves and swaying melodies. Complete with dramatic crashing drums and an oblique tender section before the heavier raging screams, it is a prime example of the beauty, even in the darkest moments, that echoes through the album as Alcest seek to balance the raw power and anguish with light as they head to the almost triumphant finish.
Flamme Jumelle’s jangling guitar and lush melody comes softly like a lilting wave, evolving into squalling notes and faint screams. Neige’s vocals, almost mournful, are reminiscent of the gossamer shimmer of the first Stone Roses album. The music swells and ebbs with the drums once again, rising and falling to bring emphasis to the cathartic release.
The ballad-like Réminiscence adds a further layer to the narrative of Les Chants…, the striking piano work lending a cultured, classical feel whilst L’Enfant De La Lune features electric drums and spoken word before Winterhalter joins with frenetic, organic percussion.
Finishing with the tender strains of L’Adieu, the languid and delicate strings, complete with finger slides continue the dream like vibe with building choral backing behind the plaintive intonations of Neige ending the album on a breathless whisper.
In their long career, Alcest have developed a knack for making incredibly beautiful music, despite the seemingly scarring nature of their roots in the black metal genre. That drift between worlds of the savage nature of the beast and the hopefulness of the divine has left them with enough credit in each camp to explore the musical landscape in whichever of these directions they feel.
Les Chants De L’Aurore seemingly exists in another realm of existential wistfulness and willingly turns away from the dark clouds and lifts its face to the sun. How it will be received in the canon of their back catalogue depends on the openness of their audience to trust them in their journey.
This feels like an album to live with, to play as the sun starts going down in the evening as you lose focus on the horizon and wonder what could be. And in that respect, it is a delight.
Label: Nuclear Blast Records
Band Links: Facebook | Bandcamp | Spotify | Twitter | Instagram
Scribed by: Mark Hunt-Bryden
