Label: Prophecy
So many metal records are afraid to be pretty, as though that says you're not hard enough. That sounds like an appropriate juxtaposition because if there's one thing metal rarely is, it's pretty. Metal is savage and brutal and painful, but infrequently pretty.
Écailles de Lune bucks that. Now a two-man unit, Alcest's recipe should be one for disaster — shoegaze done metal style. By a pair of Frenchmen, no less.
The result is an amalgamation of unlikely proportions. At turns beautiful and savage, sometimes in the same song, Écailles de Lune, which translates to "Flakes of Moon," has a warm, welcoming quality that allows even the harshest moments to sound triumphant rather than awkward.
And there are harsh moments, as promised, as "Percées de Lumière" demonstrates. A lush, soaring riff is greeted by Neige screaming the lyrics. Later, in the bridge, it drops into murky, moody waters before the thundering finale.
That sums up Écailles de Lune nicely — the metal record that isn't afraid to be grandiose. Or even, dare we say, "pretty."
"Percées de Lumière"
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