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
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