French Metal

Nightmare – The Aftermath Review

By Steel Druhm on June 10, 2014 in 2014, AFM Records, French Metal, Heavy Metal, Power Metal, Reviews, Heavy Metal, Power Metal, 22 comments

“Let’s face it, power metal is the drama club of the metal world. Members of said club tend to be overdramatic, artsy fartsy and prone to big gestures and frilly shirts. Needless to say, that makes them the target for the rest of metaldom and inevitably, lunch money gets stolen and nipples get twisted. However, none of that shit is going to fly with French power meisters Nightmare. You try to give them a wedgie or rear admiral and you may lose a tooth or six. Yep, these cats pack a lot of muscle and menace in their music and between the crunching guitars and rough and raucous vocals, you’ll forget all about the need to snicker.” But I thought drama club was cool!

Exorcism – I Am God Review

By Madam X on April 14, 2014 in 2014, 3.5, American Metal, Doom Metal, French Metal, GoldenCore Records, Italian Metal, Reviews, Sludge, ZYX Music, Doom Metal, Sludge, 3 comments

“Super-groups are an odd breed of duck. They either end up a bunch of egos, ball-busting for attention (a fight nobody wins) or they end up something along the lines of Down’s NOLA – chilled out, soaked in beer, raw and dirty and probably totally fucking stoned. This little collective I happened upon most recently via Rock n Growl Promotion, hail from a range of countries including, unsurprisingly, the USA and more surprisingly Spain, Italy and France.” An international doom rock supergroup starring the likes of Joe Stump? Intriguing!

Aurvandil – Thrones Review

By Steel Druhm on April 11, 2014 in 2014, Black Metal, Eisenwald Records, French Metal, Reviews, Black Metal, 4 comments

“I don’t review much black metal because I’m pretty tired of the genre and there are more avid and enthusiastic reviewers at AMG who can deal with it properly. However, for unknown reasons, I took quite a shine to Aurvandil’s 2011 opus Yearning and gave it high marks. Now we get Thrones, which was originally released last year as a limited edition cassette, though why anyone would release anything on cassette is beyond my simple mind (why not an 8-track edition or if you really want to be kvlt, go with a phonography cylinder).” In the mood for 50 minutes of low-fi blast beating? Here’s your huckleberry.

Neige Morte – Bicephaale Review

By JF Williams on April 5, 2014 in 2014, Black Metal, ConSouling Sounds, French Metal, Reviews, Black Metal, 1 comment

“One of my dearest friends is also my musical antithesis. As much as I can’t understand his love of power metal and Devin Townsend’s Ziltoid record, he cannot fathom how I can unironically enjoy something like Sunn O))) or Revenge. To him, a lot of the wonkier stuff I listen to comes off as noisy hackery, or glorified refrigerator hum. I’ll admit, making pure dissonance your primary compositional tool is a slippery slope in extreme metal. But, when done right, it leads the likes of Portal, Deathspell Omega, Ulcerate and Gorguts (among many others, obviously) into creating some truly moving stuff in spite of their opaqueness. How, exactly, someone could not be immediately enthralled by the first five seconds of Obscura or Si Monumentum Requires, Circumspice is a place I don’t want to go mentally. That being said, it’s times when I listen to an album like Neige Morte’s sophomore release Bicephaale that I find myself siding right with my naysaying buddy.” JF Williams dons his naysayer hat for his review of these French black metal warrior’s latest.

Alcest – Shelter Review

By Jordan Campbell on December 23, 2013 in 2013, Black Metal, French Metal, Not Metal, Prophecy Productions, Reviews, Black Metal, 16 comments

“Alcest’s trek to Shelter has been a long and gorgeous journey. Over the years, Neige has taken his most-loved project from black metal soil and sprouted upward, spinning his branches and leaves into beautiful, soothing soundscapes. His ambitions have long been combated by black metallers that thrive on ugliness and rebellion; Alcest’s inherent prettiness seemed at odds with the genre’s core ethos. Yet it was hard to argue with the results.” Does the beautification of black metal continue on Shelter? How much lush gorgeousness can the blackness take before turning that frown upside down? Valid questions all.

Monolithe – Monolithe IV Review

By Noctus on October 31, 2013 in 2013, Debemur Morti, Doom Metal, French Metal, Reviews, Shoegaze, Sludge, Doom Metal, 5 comments

“Considering the mighty seven year gap between Monolithe II and Monolithe III, it certainly comes as a surprise that this album arrived so soon, barely a year after III. Naturally, a four-part album series of crushing, spacey funeral doom, each with tracks spanning nearly an hour is as difficult a pill to swallow as one will find in this or any genre, but Monolithe have proven over the years they know exactly what they’re doing.” Our man Noctus seriously wet himself over the last album from these French doom-mongers. This time we outfitted him with young adult diapers and plastic wrapped his desk area. We learn from our mistakes….

Lodz – Something In Us Died Review

By Grymm on October 15, 2013 in 2013, French Metal, Reviews, Season of Mist, Post-Metal, 2 comments

“Post-metal is a rough genre to navigate. It’s very difficult to make a name for yourself when you’re constantly compared to Neurosis, Isis, or Cult of Luna. The very second when a quiet song starts building steam and crushes the opposition, you are branded a copycat. Hence, France’s Lodz have an uphill battle on their debut album, Something In Us Died. However, if you must stand out in a severely overcrowded field of imitators, do so by being honest and compassionate about your craft, and Something In Us Died has both honesty and passion in spades.” New-ish scribe Grymm returns to educate you on the dos and don’ts of post-metal. Read this review of Lodz and we will award you a post-grad degree in post-metal (for a nominal fee TBD).

Ataraxie – L’Être et la Nausée Review

By Noctus on August 28, 2013 in 2013, 4.5, Death Metal, Doom Metal, French Metal, Reviews, Weird Truth Productions, Death Metal, Doom Metal, 7 comments

“Jesus fucking Christ. From the moment the teaser came up on the YouTube showcasing some of the most foreboding death/doom I’ve heard in recent memory, I knew this album would be good; no question about that. Dealing with the subject of insanity and sickness, there really is no better genre of metal to match it — the crushing weight of sound along with the jarring shifts in tempo make it the perfect medium for some seriously skin-crawling material. The potential for this album was huge, especially knowing the track record this band has for great releases; Slow Transcending Agony being one of my go-to death/doom records. But it posed risks, the biggest being the length — keeping one’s attention for a double album.” Noctus isn’t afraid of a double album of hostile funeral doom/death, but should you be?

CROWN – Psychurgy Review

By Alex Franquelli on April 12, 2013 in 2013, 3.0, Candlelight, Doom Metal, French Metal, Reviews, Doom Metal, 1 comment

“Slow it a bit, tune it down, strip it of all its accents, hide the emphasis behind a wall of sonic venom and just let it go for an hour: Psychurgy will reveal its disturbing beauty in more than just one way. CROWN is a French duo and they don’t reinvent the wheel and likely never actually dared to think they could. If you’ve had the pleasure to get hold of their recent debut EP – The One, then you know these guys are serious when it comes to carefully handling their frequencies. Psychurgy is surely a step forward in terms of sound and composition: the repetitions are still there, the slowly violent love affair with drone continues to monopolise the dynamics and the sludgy aesthetics of a doom wandering away from metal is still a persisting presence.” Alex is on the job discussing French drone duo CROWN and their stubborn refusal to reinvent the musical wheel.

Spektr – Cypher Review

By Noctus on February 10, 2013 in 2013, 4.0, Agonia Records, Black Metal, French Metal, Reviews, Black Metal, 2 comments

“Mechanical dissonance, black metal, experimental tones – all things alluring, no? To a select few individuals with a taste for the twisted, anyway. It wouldn’t be inaccurate to say that the French seem to have an affinity for black metal with a twisted, experimental tinge. With bands like Deathspell Omega and the highly influential Blut aus Nord pioneering the dissonant, mangled tones, it’s no surprise that black metal outfit Spektr also hail from the same shores. They do have one rather unique aspect to the sound that sets them quite apart from such peers; that being the total absence of vocals, which is rather unusual for both black metal and metal as a whole.” Noctus is our resident expert on bleak, experimental black metal, so we called him in to discuss this grim, instrumental black metal opus. Did I mention its an instrumental black metal album?