ALCEST — Écailles de lune (review)

ALCEST — Écailles de lune album cover Album · 2010 · Atmospheric Black Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4.5/5 ·
Vehemency
Personally, I think that Souvenirs d'un Autre Monde is one of the most beautiful albums ever released. The summer-like nostalgia was something beyond everything, so my expectations were really high when Écailles de lune was released. Luckily I didn’t have to disappoint, even if this new album doesn’t quite reach as far - of which I'm not entirely sure yet.

But how could it reach, and does it even need to? It’s better not to always compare a new work to an earlier one, especially in this case where Écailles de lune is both thematically and musically slightly (but just slightly) different. In a way, Écailles de lune is more aggressive in that it includes quite a lot of blast beats and back are also Neige’s harsh screams (which are, by the way, one of the best sounding ones in that area). That doesn’t, however, mean that Écailles de lune sounds downright angry, because from the inside Alcest sounds still as beautiful as in 2007. Not frost-bitten or enraged, just sweet drifting on a shore next to a deep blue sea at night. From this perspective I could say that Souvenirs d'un Autre Monde is a summer morning while Écailles de lune is the beginning night of that same day.

One thing that I am a bit disappointed with is the length. The third track ”Percées de Lumière” was released on a split a few months before this album, which means that in a way Écailles de lune provides only three new songs - if the two-part title-track is considered as one song and the short ambient humming of "Abysses" is excluded. Short running time is not a terrible thing and it’s always a bless that an album is not prolonged, but Écailles de lune does leave me a bit too hungry.

Anyhow, Écailles de lune provides an incredible journey from the furious speeds of ”Écailles de lune (Part II)” to the calm yet epic semi-acoustic album ending of ”Sur l'océan couleur de fer”. A funny thing is that I already know that this album will sound even better in a month or two when summer (again I seem to repeat that) kicks in. Only time will tell if Écailles de lune reaches the level of the debut full-length, but even if not, it is one hell of a beautiful album anyways.
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