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Alcest - Écailles de lune CD (album) cover

ÉCAILLES DE LUNE

Alcest

 

Experimental/Post Metal

4.00 | 305 ratings

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Negoba
Prog Reviewer
2 stars Sets the Scene but Tells No Story

Alcest's ECAILLES DE LUNE sits in the atmospheric black metal / shoegaze / post-rock genre intersection that seems to be gaining a following recently. As a fan of goth rock, a sound that shares the dark melancholic ethic with this style, I should be a good audience. Instead, this music leaves me pretty bored. It's well done for what it is. Production is solid, performances professional. The singing ranges from soft crooning to a reasonably palatable black goblinvoice. Guitars are mostly clean with some moderately distorted tremolo strumming. There's really little "metal" other than the harsh vocals. The music does evoke some variety of depressive moods, but it's as if we're reading a book that establishes a chilly fall setting along a rocky coast, and then the characters just wander along the water bemoaning some lost love. Call me old fashioned, but I need something to happen.

Every time I listen to this album, the opening guitars grab my attention and then my mind wanders until "Solar Song" hits. At this point, there's actually some melody and just a hint of sweetness in the mood. The multiple layers interweave (a little) and my musician's ear starts to play with the threads of sound for a short time. It's not a brilliant piece, but it's the closest thing to a song rather than a soundscape on the album. The final track, while extremely pretty, reverts to the rather indistinct mist-wandering.

Finally, I'd like to mention that in no way do I consider this prog. While genre hopping certainly is a component of some progressive music, not every artist who brings in a musical element from one genre to one where it wasn't before is prog. Here that element is a small bit of goblinvoice. Other than that it's competently rendered atmospheric, depressive rock. 2.5/5 rounded down because it's not prog and I'm grouchy.

Negoba | 2/5 |

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