Earendil
Elevation is perfection and the most powerful piece of music Alcest has created. It begins with a peaceful, new-age soundscape and then without warning, it explodes into full-on black metal, rocketing the listener through the sky.
"Above the lakes, above the vales / The mountains and the woods, the clouds, the seas / Beyond the sun, beyond the ether / Beyond the confines of the starry spheres,
My soul, you move with ease / And like a strong swimmer in rapture in the wave / You wing your way blithely through boundless space / With virile joy unspeakable."
As the music soars, it relentlessly hurtles the listener through a purifying fire and invites him to step away from himself for a moment and experience the limitless potential of his spirit, which is as boundless as Nature itself.
"Fly far, far away from this baneful miasma / And purify yourself in the celestial air / Drink the ethereal fire of those limpid regions / As you would the purest of heavenly nectars.
Beyond the vast sorrows and all the vexations / That weigh upon our lives and obscure our vision / Happy is he who can with his vigorous wing / Soar up towards those fields luminous and serene,
He whose thoughts, like skylarks / Toward the morning sky take flight / Who hovers over life and understands with ease / The language of flowers and silent things!"
I think Le Secret earns a 7/10 and Elevation a 10/10, so overall, this EP gets a 9/10 from me. An essential EP.