Black metal, what does it says to you my fellow metalheads?, for most of us, black metal it's all about hate, anti society, church burnings, pagan and satanic rituals, thevasts forests with trolls and the cutest nazi of all: Varg Vikernes, but does anybody knows about the other side of black metal?, there is my answer for you black metal haters
Apparently, this genre doesn't know any limits, black metal blends with alot of non-metallic genres, Post-Rock? there's Agalloch, Neo-Folk? there's Ulver, and now, this thing came along, the genre known by the name of Shoegaze\Dream Pop, pioneered by bands like My Bloody Valentine (yeah sounds like emo i know) and Cocteau Twins, the main characters of the genre is using a wall of distortion, and the singing is not the main instrument here, it manages to give a sort of an atmosphere, as Alcest manages to do it as well. Alcest was formed as one man project by Neige (Peste Noire, Mortifera, Les Discrets, Amesouers, Phest, Valfunde) and the music was typical raw black metal, about winter and coldness, and even Neige's nickname can testify about the band's direction (Neige in french means snow), and in 2007 he released his debut album "Souvenirs D'un Autre Monde" which recieved positive critics not only in the metal scene, but in the Shoegaze\Dream Pop audience Neige basically changed his musical style, reaching out for metalheads and non metalheads, there were no growls in it, but it had that atmosphere that black metal has, the atmosphere of nostalgy too, remembering better days. Neige teamed up with Winterhalter on drums to bring us their next effort Écailles de Lune, after 3 years of anticipation. the album starts with the title track, the start seems promising, very promising, with a very atmospheric feeling, everytime i listen to the song it brings me up good memories, but Alcest's music could be taken to two direction, one direction of happyness and feeling good, and one direction of melancholy and sorrows, from interviews with Neige, he says that people who take his music to depressive direction don't understand his ideas, but most people do so. the music is really emotional for both sides, and even the black metal attack in the end of the first song is really melodic, the beginning of the second part of the title song just blasts my ears, with the intense drumming of Winterhalter and the freezing shrieks of neige, and when it ends, the song makes time go faster without noticing it, the next song, Percées de Lumière, is a black metal more than shoegaze song, and the song is featured in one of the splits alcest has released with les discrets (another band featuring Neige). The rest of the album features more quiet songs and more Shoegaze, but in contrast to Souvenirs, this album features more metal in it, to make the perfect balance between black metal and non metal genres.
the other songs are more Shoegaze but there is still metal in it, Neige manages again to reach both audiences, but in contrast to Souvenirs, he manages to blend more of his roots in the music, black metal
אין תגובות:
הוסף רשומת תגובה