Review: Alcest’s Les Chants de l’Aurore Reflects Their Bright New Dawn
After spending two decades paving the way for pretty much every modern band combining black metal with prettier music out there today, Alcest‘s continued efforts have certainly been satisfying to witness. However, after switching over to Nuclear Blast in recent years, such a change makes you wonder if anything will fundamentally interfere with the uniqueness of a band so niche in its delivery. While the polished, streamlined delivery of 2019’s Spiritual Instinct certainly separates it from their days on Prophecy Productions, the album had enough melodious dynamism to be worthy of the blackgaze pioneers. With Les Chants de l’Aurore (roughly Songs of Dawn in English) being their second Nuclear Blast outing, it’s great to hear Alcest sounding even more comfortable within their new sphere. While some reminders of what label this album dropped on do recur, the project’s mastermind Neige retains his singular approach to atmosphere, beauty, and passion.
If there’s one thing the opening cut “Komorebi” shows, it’s that Alcest knows how to generate expansive soundscapes that become legitimately huge. In this sense, the decision to drive the beautiful chorus with a blast beat was a stroke of genius. The contrast of Neige’s delicate, yet passionate singing over such torrential sonics gets at the essence of post-black metal while underlying strings and choral vocal layers give the elating tremolo riffs that much more size. And yet, the songwriting remains surprisingly grounded. Even with some layers added in the studio, “L’Envol” comes off like it could be played by a three-piece band. The guitar, bass, and drums remain the stars of the show, with elegant leads and rousing modulations locked in with tight grooves. Other than the well-timed entrance of Neige’s inexplicably soothing screams, it’s really that precision-timed rhythmic cohesion that gives the “metal” vibe more room to flex.
On the other hand, the hard-hitting modern metal production has its drawbacks within this musical context. Yes, the drums sound very good, but the loudest thing on a black-gaze album should not always be the snare drum. It’s not as noticeable during fuller passages, like the double-time post-punk-ish beat in “Améthyste,” but the spacious ambient parts simply don’t need a whacking backbeat. The album could have used more of the nuance on previous releases like Kodama, where the immaculate production doesn’t feel overly locked into a specific mix. Granted, Alcest has less reliance on drowsy reverb-swells than many post-black metal bands, but the nuanced dynamics between the echoing guitar pluckings and gigantic culminations of “Flamme Jumelle” could use more support from behind the drum kit.
With no other accompaniment than of piano-and-cello, “Reminiscence” finds Neige displaying his genuine singing chops. It’s rare to have a shoegaze musician come out from behind the guitar effects to bear his heart like this, and it goes to show that he doesn’t need the volume and reverb to create a solid atmosphere. Similarly, the organ-ish synth pads interspersed in “L’Enfant de la Lune” do just as much to build a sonic world as the gracious time signature change from 4/8 to 6/8, or the magnificent walls of melodious distortion. No matter how large the arrangement gets, there’s always a steady bass line or a pristine refrain to keep things grounded. But again, it’s the elegiac balladry of the closing track “L’Adieu” that is really where the up-scaled production value works the best. The song’s crescendos eb and flow naturally, as classically-tinged embellishments carry Neige’s singing from minimalist foundations to lofty heights.
While this outing’s mix and production value sometimes take from its dynamic range, it’s hard to argue that Les Chants de l’Aurore remains plenty of examples of bonafide Alcest awesomeness. The arrival points consistently hit just right, and the purely ambient sections glisten like an early morning dew on a blade of grass.
Alcest may be contending in an oversaturated genre of their inadvertent design, but it’s still clear that Neige’s approach can never be replicated.
Alcest’s Les Chants de l’Aurore will be released on July 21 via Nuclear Blast. Preorder your copy today.
