Angry Metal Guy

Les Discrets – Septembre et ses dernières Pensées
Rating: 3.0/5.0 – A solid, if inconsistent, debut.
Label: Prophecy Productions
Websites: lesdiscrets.com/ | myspace.com/lesdiscrets
Release Date: EU: 29.03.2010 | US: 05.04.2010

It would appear that now defunct, scene-polarising French black metal troupe Amesoeurs have another project place under their name, this time in the form of bassist Fursey Treyssier’s Les Discrets; a post rock-meets-shoegaze project that still has that very noticeable smell of metal that Amesoeurs and it’s sibling project Alcest gave rise to.

As with Alcest, comparisons will immediately be drawn to Amesoeurs and opinions will rage about whether this solo effort is better or worse than its “parent band”. I use the term “parent band” loosely, since both Alcest and Les Discrets existed long before Amesoeurs, but the feeling I get from the latter is that it represents a grand culmination of ideas that released its children on to the world, both of whom have chosen to run in vastly different directions.

Septembre et ses dernières Pensées is the band’s debut release and I feel the first thing that must be said, that will raise a lot of Angry Metal Eyebrows, is that Les Discrets is not a metal band. There are no harsh vocals, cascades of furious blast beats or ultra-aggressive guitar-driven musical passages that stand out and scream “Metal!”. It is a much more subdued affair of walls-of-sound and a slow ramble through Fursey’s imagination. That being said, the band still manages to display a firm grounding in metal beneath their post rock driven songs. Les Discrets bridges the gap between the post-black metal stylings of Amesouers and the more atmospheric shoegaze of Alcest, blending both genres into a new, but coherent, and enjoyable sound.

Septembre et ses dernières Pensées begins innocently enough with an atmospheric introduction that draws the listener in and begins to shape Fursey’s world. The cover art and liner notes prove very evocative when combined with the music that creates the soundtrack to the stark, yet beautiful images in the booklet. After the brief introduction, we are immediately launched into “L’échappée”, easily the flagship track of the album. The track is catchy and creates a strong, dreamlike atmosphere with a heavily textured wall of sound beneath Fursey’s warm, chant-like vocals.

The next track, “Les Feuilles de l’Olivier” is probably the most metal-oriented track on the album. Heavily distorted guitars and thick drums are complimented by a peaceful, clean guitar that that keeps the shoegaze element alive. I should mention here that there is heavy use of clean guitars throughout the album that carries a signature sound from track to track, stopping atmospheric tracks from becoming soundscapes and keeping the faster passages away from becoming pure black metal.

We are then taken to “Song for Mountains”, a track that appeared in demo form on the split with Alcest. The clean guitar once again provides grounding, while tremelo picked guitars, reminiscent of Mono or Godspeed You! Black Emperor, build a wave of noise that completely envelops the listener. The presence of the opening theme of this track along with its structure and those of the previous songs is important to note at this point, because it is after the intimate and folkish, yet unremarkable “Sur les Quais” and the Alcest/Amesouers sounding “Effet de nuit” that the wheels start to come off.

At the end of “Effet de nuit” we are presented with a superfluous guitar piece that leads into the title track. It is at this point that the album as a cohesive unit loses its way. Until now the music has not deviated much from traditional rock song structure. The typical verse-chorus-verse-bridge-etc. arrangements have made the songs catchy and memorable, and now we are presented with a spoken word introduction into a title track that wanders about the dreamy atmosphere but never really goes anywhere. I am in no way adverse to post rock soundscapes or variety in an album, but it is at this point that the hypnotic spell woven of the previous tracks is broken – and I was left wondering why the dream ended so abruptly.

The remaining songs, including an outro of sorts seem to just meander about aimlessly, lacking the magic that the album started with. There is a vague nod to Alcest in some of the riffs and chords used, but they ultimately lead nowhere. The traditional song structure has been forsaken in favour of free-flowing tracks that roll in and out of shoegaze and metal without being held together by a dominant hook. Even the instrumental “Svipdagr & Freyja” just feels like two loosely pieced together ideas and the closing bars of the outro track, “Une matinée d’hiver” would not sound out of place on an album by post rock giants, Sigur Rós. They serve as a pleasant enough farewell, but still one that still leaves the me feeling somewhat let down.

It is unfortunate that Septembre et ses dernières Pensées ends on such a low note since, up until the title track, the album felt really solid in its exploration of the black metal and shoegaze genres. In my opinion, the title track should have closed off the album instead of breaking the spell prematurely and leaving the listener lost in a sea of sounds that are not nearly as deliberate and well crafted as the opening tracks. However, these are possibly just teething pains for Les Discrets and hopefully Fursey’s future output will build upon the foundations laid by this album (they are signed for a five record deal after all).

Alcest // Écailles De Lune
Rating: 2.5/5.0 — Should’ve been an EP
Label: Prophecy Productions
Websites: alcest-music.com | myspace.com/alcestmusic
Release Dates: EU: 29.03.2010 | CA/US: 05.04.2010

Alcest are a band hyped beyond comprehension, but not without merit or reason. In their debut, Souvenirs d’un Autre Monde, there is something beautifully otherworldly about the sound Alcest creates; A mysterious aura of pure ecstasy – a melancholic veil. I call it a veil because the beautiful melodies and personality of Alcest‘s music are just a disguise, hiding a narcissism and lack of ingenuity. The “oo’s” and “aa’s” which riddle Alcest‘s music may be very pleasant, but this angry metal guy finds himself screaming for Neige, the project’s motor and vocalist, to bloody sing something, rather than simply using his voice to portray nothing. It’s almost frustrating to me that I’m totally in love with this band.

Since the first Alcest record was released in 2007, Neige has gone into other projects, such as the ever-popular Amesoeurs. This has had the effect of helping to mature Neige’s songwriting and Écailles de Lune certainly showcases a certain maturity. It’s beautifully multi-layered, practically spewing thought-provoking and emotion-evoking power.

For the first three songs, anyway.

Luckily enough, as soon as you start this CD, you’re getting the best of it. “Écailles de Lune – Part I” is stunning. The guitars are hypnotically beautiful, the sound is diverse, the vocals are spellbinding, and nearly everything is perfect. I cannot describe how good this song is, it completely surpasses every other song on Souvenirs d’un Autre Monde. The sheer beauty of this song shakes my very spine, and it isn’t just the beauty that has improved. The writing itself is much more diverse, there’s a lot more going on. “Écailles de Lune” portrays a lot more emotions, and with the song constantly changing and projecting itself further into the realm of beauty, it was as if it couldn’t get any better. One thing that amazed me is that this song perfectly painted the picture on the cover of the album in my head, which is something an album has never done to me before.

While “Éscailles de Lune – Part II” is a step down from the superb beauty of the first track, Neige’s improved songwriting still makes itself apparent, and is still a step-up from Souvenirs d’un Autre Monde. The screaming vocals may come as a surprise to some, but since this song has a faster tempo and mood than Part 1, the screaming worked rather well. Luckily, Neige’s mysterious clean voice is in this song too, which accompanies the slower moments of this song. The song comes to a halt with a beautiful clean guitar melody, slowly bringing this song to an end. Very enjoyable, even if it wasn’t as good as Part 1.

The third track “Percées de Lumière” then comes running in, with an almost punk-like beat and mood. The melody is really good, and repeats itself throughout the song—but such repetition certainly isn’t unwelcome, as it never grows tiresome. This song may be the favorite of fans of Amesoeurs, as it has a feel very similar to that of songs on their debut. The screaming-shrieks chill you, the clean vocals spellbind you, and the guitars send you into a trance that binds you from pressing the pause button on your stereo. Though this song doesn’t spew with the emotion “Écailles de lune – part 1″ does, it’s very enjoyable and a certainly welcome addition to the CD.

Unfortunately, the winning streak ends rather abruptly. The next 3 songs do nothing but disappoint an Alcest-hungry metalhead like myself. “Abysses” is noise-filler. No point going in-depth on this one. “Solar Song” is just a projection of the the exact same problems and feelings of Souvenirs d’un Autre Monde had, but it just isn’t as captivating as any of the songs from Souvenirs d’un Autre Monde were. The instrumentation is relatively weak, the vocals get annoying and the song just doesn’t seem to go anywhere. “Sur l’ocean Couleur de Fer” just shows how comfortable Neige is with what works, the song is a fully acoustic symphony with fully clean vocals. But there just doesn’t seem to be anything here, a guitar and vocals. Whilst this may work with a lot of songs, all it does is draw back the veil that is Alcest – lack of innovation covered in beauty and oo’s and aa’s.

The contrast of quality in this album frustrates me beyond any album I’ve ever reviewed. We have songs that have (rightfully) earned their place in my list of favorite songs, and songs I just have to skip. This may have been fine if there wasn’t only 6 songs. I genuinely think Alcest should have just kept the first three songs, waited another year for other ideas to spur, and wrote a masterpiece. The first half of this album is wasted on the second half, and it almost breaks my heart to only give this a 2.5/5.0 knowing how good the first half is.