THE FULL INTREPID EXPERIENCE OF LIGHT

The Full Intrepid Experience of Light is the debut full-length studio album by French avant garde/ progressive metal act 11 As In Adversaries. The album was released in November 2010 by ATMF. 11 As In Adversaries features J. (Infestvvs) on Vocals, Guitar and Bass and G. (Gionata Potenti) on Drums. In addition to 11 As In Adversaries they are both involved in the black metal act Glorior Belli. Actually The Full Intrepid Experience of Light was meant to be the fourth album by Glorior Belli, but the two musicians felt that they had strayed too far from their black metal sound to release the album as a Glorior Belli album.

...and it´s pretty obvious why, when you listen to the album. There are only few nods toward black metal ( a couple of harsh vocal parts and some black metal sounding riffs), and the tracks on the album are generally not extreme in a black metal/ death metal sense. They are very adventurous though and explore both progressive and avant garde ideas. The dominant vocal style is clean and kind of shouting ( not in a harsh way), but unfortunately the melodies are a bit monotone and even after several listens I still have a hard time finding any real hooks in the melody lines. I know this isn´t supposed to be easy listening vers/ chorus compositions, but I would have appreciated a hook or two. I´ve seen Ved Buens Ende mentioned as an influence in other reviews of the album, and while there are a few nods toward that act´s distinct sound, the music on The Full Intrepid Experience of Light are IMO an alltogether different beast.

The production on the album suits the music well. It´s clean and sharp.

I had high hopes for The Full Intrepid Experience of Light after reading about the album, but the monotone vocal melodies end up buggin´ me a bit. I guess I have the feeling that the album could have been much better had the vocals been more interesting, and that feeling ends up having a negative effect on my enjoyment. In many other respects the album is very intriguing though. So a 3 - 3.5 star rating is warranted.