Review by Saxy S for Alcest - Les chants de l’aurore (2024)

Heavy metal fans deserve to be happy once in a while. We love to entrench ourselves in a sea of anger through intensity and loud noises, all the while an instrumental palette of minor harmonies and piercing dissonance rings through our ears. How hard is it for metal artists to use major keys and slightly more uplifting themes? Since the arrival of blackgaze around the late 2000s, we have seen this begin to take shape. One of my biggest appraisals of Deafheaven's Sunbather was how that album began; presenting a false sense of security and joy, even if the title track was anchored by a relentless percussion and howling black metal shrieks. Alcest have done much the same with Écailles de lune and Spiritual Instinct and I thought for sure that this would be the peak of "happy metal".

And while Les chants de l’aurore will continue in this style to mostly positive results, I would be lying if I said I enjoyed this as much as their previous output. Something about this record feels...too carefree and I don't know where that comes from. The tempos and grooves on Les chants de l’aurore are far less driving than ever before, giving a feeling of stagnation. This album does not truly evolve that much from its initial presentation on "Komorebi" and the remaining songs don't do very much to justify their extended runtimes. Not only that, but the instrumental textures behind Neige's vocals feel more muddy and condensed than on Alcest's previous/best records.

I think many people will give Les chants de l’aurore a free pass because of how beautiful it is. Overall the texture is still very nice and a sound that you have come to expect out of an Alcest project. Neige is embracing even more of his clean vocals than even Spiritual Instinct as the harsh black metal shrieks become more textured window dressing. But a lot like with Knocked Loose earlier this year, if you're gonna give a listener just one texture for an entire record, it can become quite stale the longer that project chugs along. Les chants de l’aurore is not a long record, which should be in its favour, but two shorter interlude tracks ("Réminiscence" and "L’adieu"), the remaining five tracks do not perform nearly as well to carry this record to the stars.

Best Songs: L'Envol, Flamme Jumelle, L'Enfant de la Lune (月の子)