French post-metal giants release their newest release Spiritual Instinct which takes fans on another journey of raw emotion – 4.5/5
Alcest are known for their interesting take on black metal, portraying very similar atmospheres to post-rock and shoegaze. Their new album Spiritual Instinctis very much in this vein, perhaps with a heavier tone than their previous release Kodama. The album takes you on a journey through light and dark, heavy and calm…. working your emotions as you listen.
Their first track ‘Les Jardins De Minuit’ sets the mood for the album, already feeling a heavier more distorted emotion from the French group with the first stroke of the bass. Soon comes in that beautifully toned melody of the guitar, followed by enchanting vocals before it drops into a much more common black metal blast beat. This track alone takes you on an 8-minute journey of soundscapey epicness.
The next two tracks ‘Protection’ and ‘Sapphire’ have been released with music videos that wholly capture the Alcest image. These two singles are brilliant and are definitely the right choices for music videos. ‘Protection’ features a young girl doing some very eerie contemporary dancing alone on the beach, which builds up to some pretty sick visuals at the climax of the song. ‘Sapphire’ is a more generic music video featuring members of the band. It does however follow a similar theme to ‘Protection’ by focusing on natural elements and objects throughout both videos. You’ll find the main vocal melody in ‘Sapphire’ stuck in your mind, however the highlight track from this album is ‘L’Île Des Morts’ (Isle Of The Dead). It is a truly epic piece of music and a 9-minute masterpiece – completely entrancing and uplifting. You will feel goosebumps listening to this track for the first time for sure.
Next is ‘Le Miroir’; this track smoothly transitions from ‘L’Île Des Morts’ and is very minimal. It slowly builds up with haunting vocals and a repetitive guitar melody. The final track on the album, ‘Spiritual Instinct’ sums up the album perfectly and is a great track to end on. Anyone who is not into metal per se, should check out this album and Alcest in general. They are a fantastic example of how metal music can grow and develop, taking influences from other musicalspheres and creating music that gives more than just speed, heaviness, or distortion.
This album demonstrates true musicianship and needs to be listened to from start to finish, no putting it on shuffle or listening to the odd track now and again. The track order and changing atmosphere from start to end is the reason this album has such a powerful influence.