Album Reviews

There has been no shortage in recent years of bands trying to fuse black metal with shoegaze, but few have been as good at it as Alcest. After getting as soft as they could on 2014’s “Tender”, Alcest bring back the heavy on “Kodoma” that was all over their older albums and show everyone else just how it’s done.

Inspired by Hayao Miyazaki’s Princess Mononoke and the idea that there are different worlds that try to co-exist, this French duo are so adept at combining breezy guitar leads and beautiful melodies with blastbeats and Neige’s piercing screams that it becomes ridiculous. The title track alone is worth the purchase of “Kodoma” and that is just the first track. At that point you still have the melancholic “Je Suis D’ailleurs”, the downright gorgeous “Untouched” and the slightly heavier “Oiseaux de Proie” to go.

In short, “Kodoma” is a triumphant return to the sounds and style that made us take note of Alcest in the first place when they released “´Écailles de Lune”, while at the same time not losing sight of what they achieved with “Tender”.

Track listing:

1. Kodama
2. Eclosion
3. Je Suis D’Ailleurs
4. Untouched
5. Oiseaux de Proie
6. Onyx