ÉCAILLES DE LUNE

Quietly, and without much fanfare, metal makes its way back into Alcest's sound on Écailles de Lune after taking a little sabbatical on Souvenirs d'un Autre Monde. On the whole I would say the style of the band still leans more towards shoegaze and post-rock than towards metal on this release - I think most listeners will agree that it's more shoegaze with occasional influences from and detours into black metal territory rather than black metal with shoegaze influences - but it's still enough of an advance in the band's sound to be noteworthy and to save the album from being a re-run of Souvenirs, though not necessarily enough to feel satisfying on repeat listens.