Review by Lawrence Stillman on October 9, 2024.

The title pretty much sums up my sentiments about this album, although it's not their fault given that the project is labeled post-black metal, so they went in expecting black metal shrieks and blast beats, which are absent here. This album from Alcest is a personal favorite of mine from their catalog as it embodies more post-rock elements than black metal while keeping some of the atmospheric and sunny tremolo pickings, unlike Shelter.

This album is the antithesis of the values of black metal; instead of being cold, uncaring, desolate, and isolated, the sounds in this album portray the opposite; they are lush, colorful, warm, and ultimately refreshing. These are the commonalities between this album and the genres of post-rock and shoegaze. But unlike those genres, the tremolo pickings here are something unique that Alcest has in possession (at least back then), and Neige wasted no time in utilizing them to create something otherworldly and beautiful.

The instruments here, while not played perfectly, did help a lot in establishing the album's sound and atmosphere. The guitars and bass play simple lines and riffs, but there is beauty in simplicity; there is no need for hyper-complex riffs and dizzying time signature shifts to make music enjoyable. The drums here are played by Neige instead of Winterhalter, who first debuted in their third album, so the drums here are a bit sloppy, but I argue that it is what gives the album its charm; this is not an album made for perfection; this is just an expression of Neige's thoughts and emotions, and that is what music ultimately wants to do: let the creator express his feelings. The vocals here are also amazing; Neige's cleans are beautiful, which further helps in creating the otherworldly sound that the album has.

The production here also abandons the tradition of typical black metal production values; instead of having lofi production that sounds like a wall of noise, it uses a cleaner but still quite dirty production that gives it an organic vibe that comes from being a solo project, reminiscent of a dusty but sunny day. While Neige did not produce the album himself, the producer himself might have realized his intentions and muddled the production on purpose to give it an impure feeling, which was a good call since clean and pristine guitar tones would have ruined the album (imagine if the guitars sounded like something from Archspire; that would be terrible).

While it is not the pinnacle of the genre like one of Alcest's later albums, it is my personal favorite due to how slow and dreamlike it is without having any harsh vocals; it is just a post-rock/shoegaze album with black metal tremolo pickings, and in French, what's not to love about this album? Just lay down in a sunny forest with this on and thank me later.

Favorite tracks: 'Souvenirs D'un Autre Monde', 'Les Iris', 'Ciel Errant'

Rating: 10 out of 10

Review by Benjamin on June 22, 2021.

The sound of Alcest’s debut album, Souvenirs d’Un Autre Monde, is familiar and even run of the mill these days, but this development is testament to the extensive and ongoing influence that the band (or perhaps more accurately Neige, the mastermind behind Alcest and their near neighbour, the short-lived Amesoeurs) have had on the contemporary metal scene. A fusion of black metal and the kind of shoegaze originally popularised by indie-leaning outfits such as Ride, Slowdive and My Bloody Valentine now seems like a completely logical step in the development of extreme music, in the light of the mainstream success of kindred spirits Deafheaven’s "Sunbather", as well as the more general incorporation of aspects of the shoegaze sound into the post-metal of Deftones, Mono and many more. This was certainly not the case, however, in the earlier part of this century. Black metal had by that stage of course already welcomed numerous outside influences into its counter-intuitively elastic parameters, despite the protestations of the corpse-painted minority who curse any kind of deviation from 1990s orthodoxy, but even some of the most open-minded genre-hoppers might have baulked at this particular union. Until, that is, they heard the glorious results.

In truth, although elements of their debut are indeed glorious, we should also caution that it is clearly the work of a band finding their feet, and figuring out how to integrate the disparate and even inimical parts of their music into a cohesive whole. Alcest would find a more complete expression of their sound, and attain full glory, across their next two albums, on which they achieve an equilibrium that they do not quite manage on this patchy, but never less than intriguing effort. One should also be wary of overplaying the black metal component of their sound in the rush to acclaim the courage of their genre-breaking intentions. This is not to say that its presence is completely illusory, but that it is subtle enough for one to recognise that much of Alcest’s genuine credibility in extreme metal circles is derived from Neige’s association with, and involvement in, a raft of more overtly metallic bands, rather than because their own music resonates with aggressive black metal fury. It must be noted that these associations include historical membership of the very controversial (and quite possibly very racist) Peste Noire, although there is no suggestion or indication that Neige / Alcest share the political leanings of that particular band, and it would be unreasonable to allow what genuinely appears to be the poor decision-making of a naive teenager to taint the output of a band that do not have any connection to political extremism, lyrically, aesthetically or otherwise.

A far greater influence on the band’s sound is the constant drive on the part of Neige to recapture his childhood experiences of what he claims (apparently with total sincerity) to have been a voyage to an alternative world, populated by fairies, or magical beings of some sort. It’s easy to pour scorn on such supernatural encounters and the likelihood is that Neige has either invented them to generate intrigue and mystique, or (probably more likely, given his unstinting adherence to his narrative) previously entered some kind of hyper-real dreamstate, remembered so vividly and so impactfully that it is been retrospectively rationalised as a paranormal experience. Irrespective of the veracity of Neige’s claims, however, the stories provide a conceptual focus for Alcest, which enables their compositions to be centred around the sonic reconstruction of the far-flung lands visited, and offer a framework for a beguiling and evocative sound in which the band effectively provide the dots, and invite the keen listener to join them together, collectively building a world that hitherto existed only internally within Neige. The thematic thrust of Alcest, perhaps unconsciously, generates a set of rules for what can and cannot work under the banner of their name – shimmering, celestial soundscapes and androgynous, delicate vocals are very much the band’s primary mode of communication. Thunderous brutality, however, is entirely absent, even if Alcest occasionally adopt characteristics of the more extreme sound from which they emerged prior to their first full-length release. The album cover itself is a perfectly realised representation of the music contained within, and demonstrates Neige’s keen eye for imagery that matches the band’s overall aesthetic. The child that is the subject of the photo on the sleeve, looking in some respects like a refugee from Neverland, evoking feelings simultaneously feral and innocent, absent-mindedly plays with a reed or stalk, as if it were an instrument, suggesting a young Neige playing the music of the fairies that he consorted with in the Otherworld.

The album begins, as life on Earth itself does, in spring, with ‘Printemps Émeraude’. Where conventional black metal is the frostbitten sound of the end of all life, Souvenirs d’Un Autre Monde is instead the sound of renewal, of fertile and fecund growth, and of bucolic and rapturous reverie. And it has to be said, that belying the band’s background in the metal scene, there is very little about the opening track that qualifies as metal at all. The angular chord progression that commences the album, replete with chiming octaves and twinkling lead guitar melodies is more reminiscent of early 2000s indie, more Bloc Party than Blasphemy, more Interpol than Immortal. As the track progresses though, Alcest deftly begin to join the hitherto vast chasm lying between The Smiths and Sarcofago, with the drums maintaining an understated, but undeniable double-bass rumble, and although harmonically the note selection is very much at the pretty end of the beauty spectrum, it also approximates a black metal tremolo, albeit transplanted out of the grim and forbidding north, and into the verdant Mediterranean south. Brief snatches of metallic velocity, the washed out and trebly distortion of the guitars like a distant memory of Scandinavian black metal, reinforce these links, paired with Neige’s instantly recognisable winsome and angelic vocals, before the track breaks down into the kind of languid, watery loveliness that Smashing Pumpkins always dropped into so naturally in their imperial phase. In fact, Alcest at their best have a substantial amount in common with Billy Corgan’s troupe, fond of deploying heavy guitars, and operating in a space adjacent to metal, but just as often exploring calmer, more languorous sonics. There is enough going on in the track to avoid monotony – a couple of modulations in key see to it that the mood and tempo shift often enough to keep the listener’s attention, and as a clear statement of intent, it’s highly successful.

The rest of the first half of the album continues to build on the spiritually metal, but sonically shoegaze manoeuvres of the first track, each offering slight variations on a theme. The better of the two is ‘Les Iris’, which is a perfectly judged epic, adopting slightly more obviously metal chord voicings, a little more treble in the guitar tone, and something approaching a black metal blast. True to the overall vision of the band though, the blasting is less an aggressive display of dominant might, and more a warm cocoon of mesmerising sound, opening a portal to Neige’s ‘fairy land’, and sheltering the listener in a pastoral paradise of ethereal beauty. Coupled with the redemptive second half of the track, which utterly wrenches the blackest of hearts with its subtle and sophisticated melodicism, ‘Les Iris’ is utterly beguiling and fleshes out the blueprint for a sound that would become fully-formed on this album’s successor Écailles De Lune to spectacular effect. The title-track, which precedes it, is not quite as good, but it does feature the first stirrings of what remains one of the hallmarks of the Alcest sound – clean, twinkling guitars layering meandering melodies like a dusting of snow on a windswept chord progression, with Neige’s slightly distant, androgynous ululations transcending their occasional atonality to galvanise the song as a whole into what is now instantly recognisable as blackgaze, but at the time sounded extremely fresh and novel.

Were the second half of the album as good as the first, Souvenirs d’Un Autre Monde might be considered a minor classic, as opposed to the enjoyable beginnings of a band who would go on to bigger and better things, but the final triptych of tracks ranges from mediocre to downright tedious. ‘Ciel Errant’ in particular is an abomination, although in some respects it is actually rather revealing in terms of demonstrating just how skilled Alcest are to mostly succeed in weaving gold from raw materials that can so easily result in something bland and inoffensive. When Alcest get it right, their melodies provide shards of bittersweet beauty amid torrents of violence; too often here they are facile, cringeworthy, and more pedestrian than London’s busiest shopping street on Christmas Eve. The naysayers might argue that Alcest take black metal as a starting point, only to denude it of all danger, presenting instead a sterile imitation; the desiccated husk of what is left once all vitality has been extracted. It’s an accusation that is mostly unwarranted, but when the spell is broken as it is here, the listener can be forgiven for wondering if Alcest are any good at all. If this glimpse of Alcest without the sparkle of fairy dust that ordinarily elevates their music is unedifying, the final track ‘Tir Nan Og’ recovers some of the lost ground. Employing Celtic mythology to cement the links between Neige’s own experiences and more widely known legends of pre-Christian myth-making, the title apparently translates as ‘Land Of The Young’, describing an island paradise of everlasting youth and joy. Not obvious lyrical subject matter for metal-adjacent music perhaps, but from another perspective, one could argue that it is simply a less cynical and more innocent take on the classic metal obsession with fantasy-based subject matter, and therefore directly connected to metal genealogy in a way that is not immediately apparent from the music itself, which is almost entirely upbeat and holds none of even the lurking undercurrent of menace that stalks their best work. Despite this, and even though it is clearly overlong, it succeeds due to it’s immensely pretty melody, and ability to conjure the magical atmosphere missing from the middle section of the album, concluding a curious album in fitting style.

In the final analysis, Souvenirs d’Un Autre Monde is notable mostly for what it initiated, rather than what it actually is. By extruding and moulding something that is at least vaguely connected to black metal into shoegaze and post-rock shapes, Alcest provided the catalyst for a generation of bands to combine ethereal soundscapes and pastoral warmth, with some of the sonic characteristics of extreme metal. Furthermore, during the best moments of the album, almost all of which are found in the first three tracks, the combination sounds entirely natural, and even obvious. The effect on the extreme metal scene since the release of this album has been not unlike that caused by Isis in the wake of their monumental "Oceanic" album, which similarly fused post-rock with the apocalyptic sludge, the quieter parts every bit as compelling as the more visceral heavy sections, inspiring countless bands to introduce a greater sense of dynamics to their own febrile riffing. Blackgaze is now very much a sub-genre in its own right, and even bands that don’t fit neatly into this particular descriptive bracket such as Panopticon, or even Wayfarer, betray similar influences, bringing sounds from outside the genre into black metal in a way that would be more startling had Alcest not travelled the path that they have since their early releases. Purely on the basis of the music itself though, Souvenirs d’Un Autre Monde feels overall rather slight and a little ephemeral, passing through without leaving more than a faint trail for others to follow. There are certainly enough glimpses of the magic that would be more substantially realised on the following two albums to ensure that it is not unenjoyable, and it could be edited to an excellent EP, but evaluating the album as the full-length that the band consider it to be, Alcest are found wanting, even if the listener is found to be wanting more.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10

First published at alifetimeofmusic537956501.wordpress.com

Review by Benjamin on December 24, 2021.

By the time that Alcest released their third album Les Voyages De L’Âme, their reputation was such that it was once of the most anticipated metal (or at the very least metal-adjacent) releases of 2012, their growing legion of fans impatient to discover whether Neige still hoarded any treasures yet to be revealed, or whether his wellspring of inspiration had run dry. The first indication that it would be the former was apparent even before the listener had heard a note, assuming that this book could be judged, at least in part, by the cover. One-time Alcest and Amesoeurs bandmate, general associate, and indeed Les Discrets mainman Fursy Teyssier is responsible for the artwork for the two records that precede this album in the band’s discography, but it is this, his final contribution to the band’s catalogue that stands tallest. A hazy image of an almost bashful peacock, the sun visible through the arch that the peacock stands before, a portal perhaps, to Neige’s fabled fairy land, is immaculately matched to the album’s musical content, the ideal representation of Alcest’s finely wrought, ethereal magic, and a promising portent of the quality of an album that immediately draws the listener across the threshold into Neige’s universe from the very first note picked.

One of the most impressive aspects of Alcest’s career is just how quickly they have established a sound that is so instantly recognisable, while at the same time slowly expanding their own reach. There are now numerous bands that have co-opted elements of what Alcest do into their own compositions, but Alcest themselves operate in such a singular niche that from the moment that Neige’s gentle arpeggio introduces ‘Autre Temps’, joining a soothing wash of synth euphony, it is clear that we could not be listening to any other band. The modern world fades away, and the listener is suspended in the amniotic comfort of the calming melodies and carefully arranged tonal choices of the band. Time slows down, experienced differently in Neige’s world, and the atmosphere is suffused with a sense that anything is possible, and all atoms are simply potential, waiting to be released. The almost folky timbre dissipates as a pretty chord sequence joins the carefully picked guitars, and the unobtrusive rhythm section feels its way into the song, before Neige’s plaintive, but more obviously confident voice details a meandering melody that occupies the space between the instruments with expert precision. Immediately, an increased level of considered sophistication is apparent in the band’s arrangements, as the production allows the vocals to become a focal point in a way that Neige has been reluctant permit previously. This is also demonstrated by the sprinkling of small moments of inspiration throughout the track, all of which enable it to transcend the conventional pop-song structure. The twinkling lead guitar line that appears just once after the first chorus, for example, or the ascending tremolo that adds intensity before the final chorus and demonstrates the kind of sure grasp of drama and dynamics that can only be the result of hours of hard work meeting the lessons of experience. As a statement of intent, if it doesn’t quite match the title track of the previous album, any difference in quality is vanishingly small.

For a band as dependent on feel and ambience as Alcest are, one of the most critical attributes is the skill to keep the listener firmly ensconced in the other-worldy miasma of their music, and thankfully there is not a single note that isn’t calibrated to do exactly this throughout the full running time of Les Voyages De L’Âme. Other bands can perhaps direct an ironic wink at the dirty business of rock ‘n’ roll, the listener and band fully aware that they are working together to suspend disbelief while at the same time acknowledging and embracing the inherent ridiculousness of this particular artistic form. From Kiss through to Immortal, via Motörhead and The Ramones, this approach is a time-honoured strand of musical tradition that will continue to gain adherents for ever more. For a band such as Alcest, however, it is imperative that they avoid breaking the spell that holds the listener in their thrall, and therefore the only viable way forward is to play it ramrod straight and deadly serious. If the price of this may be a slight lack of variation, the pay-off is pure escapism for as long as the album lasts. More so than than on Écailles De Lune though, there is variation there if one searches for it, and these elements are some of the most satisfying to be found on the album. The quasi-black metal blasting of ‘Là Où Naissent Les Couleurs Nouvelles’ again emphases the band’s connection to their more extreme roots, although Alcest offer a blissful blanket of snow, as opposed to the blizzards conjured by the more frostbitten purveyors of the more orthodox iteration of the genre. Equally as intriguing is the way in which the band switch in the latter part of the track between minor and major keys, generating an ecstatic conclusion to the track that emerges cautiously from a delightfully delicate bridge section, as if observing a spider building its web in the slowly rising sun, rays glinting off drops of the water vapour that condenses on each spindly strand of silk, before towering guitars bring the track to a majestic climax.

Even more fascinating is the magnificent and aptly named ‘Beings Of Light’. Liberated completely from any lingering connection to such fripperies as verses and choruses, Neige instead creates a bewitching track from little more than two, admittedly blissful, chords. The exact midpoint between the aggression and velocity of black metal, and the lush ambience of shoegaze, the track somehow synergises the power of both, becoming something startling and novel. In Roman folklore, Lucifer was the morning star, the bringer of light. The Christian idea of Lucifer characterises him as an angel, cast out from heaven. ‘Beings Of Light’ seems to embody a combination of the both Luciferian concepts, an angelic choir of voices acting as a beautifully carved Trojan horse for Neige’s seductive and extravagant melodicism. Not for the first time, it seems that Alcest are channelling the sound of the ether, tapping into something that always exists, waiting simply for a vessel to make itself heard. On this track, Alcest are that vessel.

To complete a beguiling journey, at the third time of asking, Alcest finally rectify the most obvious and glaring flaw of their previous efforts, this flaw being a strange aversion to concluding an album with a definitive and climactic statement. This is especially egregious for a band whose music centres around the post-metal convention of slowly building to a crescendo, funnelling the slow-moving waters of gratification into their musical dam, until the barrier’s structural integrity is finally overwhelmed by the onrushing flood of noise and emotion. Perhaps a lingering contrarianism has contributed to the consecutive anti-climaxes that have afflicted their career thus far, but on Les Voyages De L’Âme, Alcest finally allow themselves to be lead wilfully into temptation, and the only logical response is to assume a supplicatory position in recognition of the gifts that they magnanimously bestow upon the grateful listener. ‘Summer’s Glory’ is certainly the best track on this album, and may still be the best track that the band have released across their six releases, a gold-plated example of everything that Alcest do well, with every aspect of their sound optimised for maximal impact. Lulling us into a false sense of security initially, with what appears to be a prosaic indie-leaning chord progression, Neige’s ululating moan floating above the fray, the song becomes insidiously darker and heavier as it continues, until finally a spark of genius blazes into life for the final few minutes of the album. A crystalline lead guitar melody teases and tantalises, working through a number of slightly varied iterations, each repeat threatening to unleash the final version, celestial rays peaking through gradually parting clouds until finally the sky clears and we are bathed in the heavenly light of the enchanting, goosebump-inducing climax; Neige’s shoegaze guitar heroism a hipster inversion of Slash manhandling his Les Paul on the mountaintop at the end of ‘November Rain’. As the final notes drift away, and we find ourselves return once more to reality, the memory of the staggeringly infectious melody from ‘Summer’s Glory’ continues to reverberate into our world from wherever it originated.

Les Voyages De L’Âme is the most cohesive and fully-formed album that Alcest have put their name to at this point in their career. A transaction has been completed in which the band have exchanged a small amount of the ineffable magic that made their previous album so unique for a sheen of professionalism and songwriting sophistication, which continues to sustain their continually evolving career to this day. A tiny amount of realism, maturity even, has crept into Neige’s hitherto innocent universe. Together with a more dramatic sense of light and shade, and the ability to utilise a bigger toolbox to shape a less predictable landscape, Alcest have a greater sense of purpose than ever before, and the confidence to turn a majestic vision into reality. The band’s third album may not quite impart the pure wonder of its predecessor, and in that sense it is not quite as wondrous, but it is in all respects the album that Alcest needed to make and continues to impress nearly a decade after it cast its first spell.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10

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