I was beginning to feel relatively secure in my metal knowledge after reading up on so many metal bands. But then a friend of mine told me about Alcest, one of his favourite bands of all time. He sent me a link to Alcest's third studio album from 2012 Les Voyages de l'Âme [The Voyages of the Soul]. I started playing it - and loved it immediately. Les Voyages de l'Âme starts with the incredibly tender guitar intro of Autre temps [Other time]. When vocalist Neige finally starts singing at 1:46 I was so smitten by his clear and beautiful vocals. This was a metal?
Alcest was formed in 2000 by Stéphane Paut aka Neige as a raw black metal project. Together with Argoth on bass and Aegnor on lead guitar Neige recorded the demo Tristesse Hivernale in 2001 which sounded exactly how one imagines black metal to sound with screamed vocals and a very raw sound. After Tristesse Hivernale Argoth and Aegnor left and Neige continued as a solo artist with Alcest until 2009 when drummer Jean Deflandre aka Winterhalter joined him. The first release from Neige after Tristesse Hivernale was the EP Le Secret in 2005 and here he showed the new direction in which Alcest would go. This EP is considered to be the origin of yet another metal fusion genre I hadn't heard of until today: blackgaze (a combination of black metal and shoegaze). What is shoegaze you ask? Yeah, I had to read up on it too.
Shoegaze emerged in the late 1980 as a subgenre of indie rock and alternative rock. The name comes from the fact that musicians would use their effect pedals excessively during their performances, causing them to look down on their shoes during their performance. Shoegaze music is characterised by "obscured vocals, guitar distortion and effects, feedback, and overwhelming volume". The shoegaze movement self-destructed in the early 1990s and was pushed aside by grunge and early Britpop acts. Alcest is one of the most notable bands that took shoegaze elements and combined them with black metal, creating the sound of blackgaze.
My favourite song on the album, closely followed by the opener Autre Temps is the second song Là Où Naissent Les Couleurs Nouve [Where new colours are born]. The song title alone is so beautiful, as are the lyrics, here translated from French to English:
I've always lived here though
Like a wandering stranger.
On this earth, lonely,
in perpetual detachment,
I hear in me the call of another universe
Which resounds bitterly.
Eyes fixed on the sky,
carrying the burden of my body,
I perceive my home
lost in the clouds.
Too much heaviness here, stubborn arms
holding back the wandering spirits
about to escape.
From here below I see my home,
these eternal meadows
lost in the clouds.
Where new colors are born,
where my heart and my soul have remained.
This song is 8:50 minutes long and takes you onto a journey to another land if you let it. It is a song that needs relaxation of the mind and an open heart that will uplift your spirits to unknown hights.
Alcest's black metal roots are clearly audible in Là Où Naissent Les Couleurs Nouvelle. Vocals are mostly delivered clean but there are also some harsh sections, accompanied by blast beats and tremolo guitar-picking. At 5:55 the track changes again into yet another direction, building up tension that is released in a fantastic melodic finale at 7:21.
La Voyage de l'Âme is a concept album that recounts memories from the fantasy land Neige visited in his mind as a child. Neige started this theme with his first studio album Souvenirs d'un autre monde [souvenirs from another world]. He refers to this world as "Fairy Land" and with his music he attempts to take the listener with him. The music on La Voyage de l'Âme is throughout uplifting and positive, which is very different to the hopelessness and bleakness of black metal. Although the album is overall very calm, there is a lot happening here. The guitars are heavily distored and the music uses a lot of effects and ambient sounds, creating an otherworldly, dreamy atmosphere. I‘ve been listening to this album on repeat and I definitely recommend it to anyone who is saying „Metal is not for me“. Give it a go, I dare you, this is metal how you would never imagine it to sound like.
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