Amph What Album Did You Just Hear?

Alcest, Kodama

France's Alcest are a bit of a treasure. The first major blackgaze band before it existed, they've - well, he, given it's Neige on his own - woven this incredibly layered tapestry of mostly very laid back, soaring and epic songs with almost no hint of their black metal past.

Specifically, you had their penultimate album "Shelter", with tracks like "Voix Sereines" (Serene Voices) and Opale being stirring, beautiful, and uplifting in an effortless fashion. Think a Gallic Sigur Ros.

Kodama returns some of the black metal shrieks and blastbeats seen on 2012's Les Voyages de L'Âme (The Voyages of the Soul) but in a way that adds urgency and not in a way that merely leverages off BM's high profile thanks to deafheaven.

Alcest have, lyrically, been hugely indebted to a recurring childhood dream of Neige's in which he was transported to a fantasy land. That feeling of belonging elsewhere, along with Japanese folklore, is the underpinning for 2016's Kodama. Kodama, for those who don't speak Japanese, means either "echo" or "free spirit". Soaring, aching, despairing, ethereal - reviews all share these adjectives in common and it's probably because such sentiment is accurate. The album is actually a thing of exquisite beauty.

If you like Explosions in the Sky, Tool, Grimes, deafheaven, Mogwai, etc - you will love this album. And if you don't, give it a try - I am very keen to hear @Rogue1-and-a-half's thoughts.

Tracks:
1. Kodama
2. Éclosion (Hatchling)
3. Je suis d'ailleurs (I am from elsewhere/I am the outsider etc)
4. Untouched
5. Oiseaux de proie (Birds of prey)
6. Onyx

EDIT: JoinTheSchwarz - listened yet?

 

I love Explosions in the Sky, Tool and Mogwai.

 

Absolute classic right here.

 

Just finished Alcest's Kodama. Great music. But I like Mogwai, Explosions in the Sky, Bark Psychosis and other post-rock stuff like that and this was right up my alley.

Will give their(His? Sounds like it's one guy and a few assorted musicians for each album) other albums a listen too.

Thanks for the heads up Ender Sai!

 

This band doesn't officially divulge what the concept of this album is but WE ALL KNOW. Especially when you make it as obvious as naming one of your tracks Acolyte of the TENEBROUS Night.




Not to mention these awesome lyrics:

his dreams haunt him with images
of that frostbitten eidolon
he is the harbinger of pain
of the very same future he sought to destroy
groves of grotesquely misshapen corpses lay in his wake
he is the ultimate betrayer
whose name shall make the heavens weep

 

The artwork alone looks Lovecraftian.

Man, I really wish Universal had been able to green light del Toro's At the Mountains of Madness.

 

Erm, look at the logo, Shane.

That should tell you what the band's called and the album is about.

 

I heard they were trying to make it PG-13. A PG-13 Lovecraft adaptation. Yeah, no thanks.

 

yeah Universal wouldn't green light a hard R, which was what del Toro, Cameron and Tom Cruise all wanted to make. They'd had ILM doing some amazing vfx tests and everything but del Toro wouldn't compromise on the rating and so it never happened. But having read ATMOM and most of Lovecraft's stuff, I can't see that story in particular being less than an R. Doesn't have to be hard R but PG-13…nah.

Ender Sai, **** me that's pretty damn obvious isn't it? lol. Can't believe I didn't see that.

 

Anniversary of meh:

 

Oh I was thinking of Chinese Democracy. But yeah, that's a meh too.

 

At least they kept the covers album to a reasonable length with some redeemable tracks. The worst thing I can say about it is that it's an uneven album with a very incomplete feel since (as far as I know) the band were rarely, if ever, in the studio at the same time to record their parts. It definitely sounds like a session album.

 

Some childhood favorites right here. Same goes for a lot of his discography, really. His '90's stuff is particularly underrated, in my opinion.

 

I wanted to get back into the swing of doing reviews (I find them fun) and I wanted to do the entirety of Yngwie Malmsteen's discography. Since Rising Force, Marching Out and Trilogy are what got me into metal, it would be pretty cool. I'd also make it a nice retrospective of the man with every review.

 

True. Rough demos.

 

lol @ ywngie

 

Does precisely what it says on the tin. No rock, no ballads, no disco, no techno, no country - just pure unadulterated blues. Outstanding. It's the sound of a band re-inspired.

 

Still rocking this Stones album. Apparently this is their first ever album recorded without overdubs. Even their first record had overdubs. Great stuff.

 

Been on a pretty large NWOBHM kick for the past week.

 

Afar - "Selfless"

USBM is so strong right now.

 

Frank ocean's blonde. So good.

 

Ender Sai I've been listening to that and The Force of the Ancient Land lately.

 

Ender Sai Do you listen to a lot of progressive metal?