Alcest - Écailles De Lune (2010)

After the band’s amazing first full-length release “Souvenirs D'un Autre Monde” many of us had been left wanting for more. And while there are many other bands that play similar music like Agalloch, Wolves In The Throne Room, Fen, etc. Alcest has it’s own extremely melancholic sound that is unique of them.

“Écailles De Lune” follows the band’s first release perfectly; there are plenty of instrumental passages that build expectation and melancholy. The clean vocals are heavenly and brilliantly set the mood for the furious sporadic Black Metal attacks. All the buildups leading to the band’s Black Metal elements are perfectly crafted creating a very melancholic feeling that bursts with shrieks of desperation.

The band does a great job in creating haunting and enthralling atmospheres that hook the listener into the band’s world. Out of all the band’s playing a similar style of music, we recognize that Alcest is one of the best. With every release that the band has put out, they have been exponentially improving their craft, allowing them to create mesmerizing songs that flow amazingly from start to finish.

While we think Alcest’s sound is near perfect, we would love to hear them experiment with different elements in their music, in order to achieve a richer and more complex sound. This is probably one of the things we don’t like too much about band’s of the genre, that their music is very basic and could easily be benefited by adding more instruments into their music.

Having nature as the biggest inspiration behind Alcest’s music, the band does a great job at having this ‘organic’ sound to them (even though they do not use many acoustic instruments). All these emotions are brilliantly translated in songs over 8 minutes long that feel like only seconds have passed by.

All instruments and the overall musical composition of this release is brilliant, everything is well paced and the Black Metal assaults are brief and perfectly placed within the songs. The overall production is crystal clear and you should definitely have a good sound system to enjoy every detail of this album.

If you are looking for a release that will blow you away and will be a great companion for those eerie winter days, or those hiking on the woods adventures, it can’t get much better than “Écailles De Lune”. If you are a fan of the band, you will not be disappointed with this great release from Alcest.

Release: April 20th, 2010

Country: France