Alcest, or the version of Alcest we see now, is the brainchild of Nathan LeBon aka. Neige. Ecailles de Lune (or Scales of the Moon for us English people) is the second full-length title from Alcest, following on from the debut LP Souvenirs d’un autre monde. Ecailles de Lune is my first experience with Alcest and it is safe to say it won’t be my last.
Let’s get one thing straight. The connotations that black metal bring: the face paint, the leather clothing with studs, blood dripping from the mouth a la Marduk, the bleakness and harsh, raw vocals should all be thrown out of the window. This is not black metal at it’s rawest. It definitely has elements of Scandinavia’s finest – the blast beats and shrill guitars at the end of Ecailles de Lune (Part I) and Percees de Lumiere should put those ravenous for black metal at ease. However, at heart, this album is post-metal/shoegaze.
So, soft, wandering riffs combined with a wall of blastbeats and raw black metal vocals. Almost two polar opposites in the musical spectrum. But it clicks. Even from the first three minutes of the opener, Ecailles de Lune (Part I), it manages to connect seemlessly, volleying back and forth from shoegazey guitaring to powerful riffing. Everything feels so incredibly natural here, like black metal and shoegaze were meant to be together in holy matrimony. Ecailles de Lune (Part I) and Ecailles de Lune (Part II) take up almost half the albums running time and definitely provide the best examples of the post-metal label.
The 2-minute interlude Abysses is absolutely haunting. Imagine yourself all alone in the dark in a gothic warehouse or castle of unimagineable size and this would be the soundtrack. The drips from leaking rooftops, the eerie wind blasting through the uninhabited corridors and distant rattles of unknown objects – all of these are prevalent in this incredibly powerful interlude. It’s very heavy, but not in the sense of crashing guitars or screaming vocals.
The Cure/My Bloody Valentine-esque riffs create a wondrous feeling, especially in the albums closer, Sur l’Ocean Couleur de fer. The drums are removed for aforementioned song and Neige’s soft, wandering voice along with the meandering guitar is absolutely gorgeous. There’s no other way to describe it other than it being a dream.
The six tracks total to 41 minutes in length but it seems so much shorter, like you never want this particular journey to end. And that’s exactly what it is – a journey through the world of Neige’s brain from start to finish.
I’ve got a hell of a lot of work to do over this next fortnight, so lessbrighteyes might not be updated as regularly as you might hope. But fear not! I will try and write whenever I can.
[...] Another entry into the top ten for progressive black metal. Neige, the sole member of Alcest, isn’t as well known as Ihsahn, nor will the name Alcest ever send as big a shockwave through black metal as Emperor did, but a direct comparison to Emperor would be naive. Alcest contain all the musically experimental elements that make Ihsahn’s solo albums so successful but also add a facet of post-rocky/shoegaze goodness. For more on Écailles de lune, check my review here. [...]