ALCEST — Écailles de lune (review)

ALCEST — Écailles de lune album cover Album · 2010 · Atmospheric Black Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
bonnek
Alcest combines UK shoegazer pop with atmospheric Black Metal. That may sound like the most unlikely marriage ever, but actually it's not the first time it was tried. Ulver made the same combination on their debut 15 years ago. And the result was equally successful.

Black Metal has an inherent tendency for developing thick atmospheres; it's one of the things that sets it apart from Death Metal which concentrates more on musical technicality. Plenty of Black Metal bands can be named that combine their harsh aggression with ambient dreamy music, next to Ulver, Agalloch must sure be mentioned as an outstanding example of that combination. In case of Alcest the atmospheric mix is pervaded with a Floydian spacey-ness.

So, the people allergic to Brit-pop are warned, but still they shouldn’t discard this album completely. The pop and emo factor is non-existing here. This is very lush and magical music, just like My Bloody Valentine, Pale Saints and Lush used to be. Both clean vocals and Black Metal shrieks are used and both are a perfect fit for the eerie atmosphere created here.

The album flows with a natural grace but never hits me the way Agalloch, Ulver or early Katatonia do. The reason is the songwriting, which is very adequate but never outstanding. There’s also too much focus on shoegazer and too few original elements. A track like Solar Song could have come right out of any 1990 UK indie album. But in comparison to some of those albums, Alcest is just a tad less accomplished. To give just two examples, I find The Comforts of Madness from The Pale Saints or Ferment from Catherine Wheel much more adventurous and diverse albums.

Ecailles De Lune is a very good album that may appeal to goth, shoegazer and atmospheric metal fans alike. It misses an element of surprise and a songwriting eminence to reach true excellence but it comes close. 3.5 stars
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

Deviance Deathcore
ASHES INTO BLOOD
Buy this album from MMA partners
Equilibrium Atmospheric Sludge Metal
BESRA
Buy this album from MMA partners
Tension Between Rot And Genesis Sludge Metal
ANTHESIS
Buy this album from MMA partners
Recycle Brain Crust Punk
C.P.G
Buy this album from MMA partners
Cartography Of The Mind Deathcore
TETHERED
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

Besra – Unsullied (Music Video)
BESRA
Bosh66· 6 hours ago
Tethered - Breathe (Official Video)
TETHERED
Bosh66· 23 hours ago
Saltwound - Walking The Blade (OFFICIAL VISUALIZER)
SALTWOUND
Bosh66· 1 day ago
Saltwound - The Negative (OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO)
SALTWOUND
Bosh66· 1 day ago
Saltwound - Drowning feat. Taylor Barber (OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO)
SALTWOUND
Bosh66· 1 day ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed