Customer Reviews

Souvenirs D'un Autre Monde

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When my bandmate called me in the middle of the night to tell me about this new band he couldn't stop listening to, I was intrigued. How could a one-man project go from raw black metal to something of the shoegaze realm with black metal influences? This is exactly how it should happen.

I have been listening to both black metal and shoe gaze since I was 11. Ten years later, I still have a great amount of respect for both genres. Black metal has lost it's flare in recent years and the newer genre of depressive black metal has shown great progress. I've been playing in a shoegaze band for almost a year and a half now, and that is where my heart lies. I never thought the two could ever meld. But then, Souvenirs d'Un Autre Monde shows up, seemingly out of nowhere.

This album is the most beautifully sad music I've heard in years. It's crushing in the sense that it overwhelms the listener right from the beginning. Loud cymbals get swallowed up by a distinctly black-metal riff, and the sound becomes overwhelming. It's immediately clear that this is no black metal album. The wall of sound is supplemented by minimalist riffing with a crystal-clear tone. Vocally, Neige's tone is hauntingly beautiful. It sits like a grey cloud over the music, and I mean that in the best way possible. Track 4, Ciel Errant, is where this album shines. An acoustic intro is thrown straight into a solid riffing pattern, with great variations all over. The bass creates another voice that drifts into the wall of sound seamlessly. It's a truly magical song that words simply fail.

In ten years of delving into these genres, I can't even say that My Bloody Valentine's Loveless has put me at this much of a loss for words. Neige claims he never listened to post rock or shoegaze before writing this album, this was simply an interpretation of a dream land. For having no idea what he has gotten himself into, Alcest may have just created the best album of 2007, and an album that will remain close by to my CD player, Ipod, and computer for years to come.

Alcest - Souvenirs d'Un Autre Monde
France - 2007
Prophecy Productions
Niege - all instruments and vocals

I discovered Alcest, when I was listening to AUSTERE, so when I ordered this album I was expecting something similar to Austere, and the depressive melancholic black metal scene.

When Alcest's album arrived to me, I understand that this is not the same style as Austere, Alcest reflects the purity and the sadness inside the mind of a man.

It can guide you through the desolated paths of life, all across the pain and then set you free with a peaceful smile.

That is Alcest, the pure decadence of the insignificance of being alive.

NECROSADIK!

Although this French one man band has been known for putting out somewhat melodic and shoegaze-influenced black metal (ala Xasthur, Leviathan, etc) in the past, on this record the metal is turned down to zero.

There are fastly-picked and melodic black metal guitars and even slight blast beats but it still sounds more like an indie rock record. There are NO growled or screamed vocals on this whole CD, thankfully!

So...for black metal fans who are yearning for something a little different...and shoegaze or indie fans who are looking to do likewise, BUY THIS CD!!! I found it to be very refreshing.

The past few years have been very good to shoegaze fans. Not in terms of number, but in terms of singular, unique albums that actually add something to the genre, which has been an elusive breed since the days of old when My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, and Ride pioneered their immensely popular and unique styles. 2005 saw the self titled debut of Serena Maneesh. 2006 also had a winner, Asobi Seksu's Citrus. We have yet another winner this year with newcomer Alcest's Souvenirs D'un Autre Monde, roughly translated from French as "memories of another world." Such a title is appropriate for an album that, like any shoegaze album, is flooded with details and dreamy soundscapes. Yes, I know, you have heard it all before. It's another garden variety shoegaze album that doesn't really try anything different, isn't it?

Actually, that might be true. Much like it's guitar effects, shoegaze is a genre with highly distorted boundaries which are often pushed for the sake of trying something new instead of making quality music. When rabid experimentation is not present, excessive imitation is often the alternative. Souvenirs doesn't really do either, and it succeeds just by being a pretty album. Alcest is essentially the work of one man, Frenchman Neige, whose roots are with such French black metal acts such as Peste Noire and Mortifera. A lot of people seem to be pinning Souvenirs as a black metal album, but if it is, I'm going to have to read into exactly what Black Metal is, because this is as much of a pure shoegaze album as I have ever heard. But what is strange is I can't trace the roots of it's sound back to any shoegaze bands of old. The closest it gets to is to Ride, and even then the resemblance is only vague.

In this way, Souvenirs is unique but not really engaging in a sense that although this sounds new, the style is fairly familiar. That is to say, big distorted guitar sounds arranged with sweeping melodies, glowing seven chords, simple beats, lots of cymbal crashes, and glazed ethereal vocals. Even shoegaze fans will admit that the trick has been overused. Some figure that if they drown a simple chord progression in distortion that it will somehow bloom and be beautiful, but really, you need a nice melody to really make something work. Neige knows how to write pretty, simple melodies, but he also knows how to play the shoegaze cards as well. Perhaps the most interesting fact in respect to Alcest's style is that Neige claimed to have not listened to any shoegaze music prior to making Souvenirs. Whether or not this is true is debatable, but in any case, this album has a strong, grounded core of memorable, pretty melodies. The fact that it works in the shoegaze context only makes it all the more unique.

However, while his melodies are simple, Alcest manages to cover a wide range of melodies within single songs. Of the six songs on the album, not one dips under the six minute mark, and most songs are segmented into smaller, distinguishable movements. This keeps the songs interesting, but at times hard to pin down, much like Sigur Ros' progressive post rock. And yet, while every song is bathed in electricity, they all feel organic too, and typically have an acoustic guitar and piano at their core. The two songs that impressed me most in this respect are Ciel Errant and Tir Nan Og. Ciel Errant is a lovely little acoustic guitar based ballad that somehow reminisces of The Smashing Pumpkins just as much as Sigur Ros or Ride. Tir Nan Og is the real winner though. The gentle piano leaps and acoustic guitar strumming in conjunction with a simple rhythm makes it sound like as much of a rural folk song as a dreamy urban shoegaze song. A perfect way to clinch the album.

Whatever Souvenirs D'un Autre Monde is, it's beautiful, and you can expect more of this, because according to www.alcest-music.com, Alcest has signed to the Prophecy Productions label for a five album contract. Yeah. This wasn't a one time shot. No matter what direction Alcest takes with any albums in the future, I'll remember this one as one of the best of 2007.

...Look no further.This is a beautiful record,which appears to be about the innocence and natural magic of childhood.Layers of guitar fizz and pop from start to finish,giving it a sunlight-drenched,positive feel.Makes me feel like going out and climbing some trees!

First thing first: yes, this IS an amazing release.An updating,if you will,of the "shoegazing" genre that more-or-less peaked in the late 1990's. One of my personal favorites of the last several years,for sure.Seems the French are REALLY shining in music and films these days,this release is further proof of that claim.

Now with that out of the way, I felt I needed to comment on the "Black Metal" aspects of this release I keep hearing from various sources - this is as close to Black Metal as,say,Jesus and Mary Chain! "Loveless"-era My Bloody Valentine is more METAL than this!! Please dont take this as an attempt to detract one from purchasing,as this is GREAT music.Just know what you ARENT getting yourself into!

After listening to the song "Souvenirs d'Un Autre Monde" on a CD sampler that came with Terrorizer, I fell in love with this one-man band instantly. I bought the album immediately, and was not disappointed. This is one of the best and most innovative titles I have heard in a while.

Alcest's lead artist, Neige, released one album before this, which was classic melancholic black metal (also recommended). It was really surprising to see the artist make the switch in style, using the powerful melancholy of black metal with an uplifting theme of childhood dreams.

very pretty sounding modern shoegazer. folksy and melodic; this is a really mellow, and enjoyable album.

I never thought I'd say this.. but this album could benefit from some metal growl in places. Some of the songs work incredibly well with the ethereal vocals (parts of Les Iris, Sur L'autre, and numerous soaring female(?) vocal sections are truly brilliant). However, other songs build a chilling atmosphere with harsh and beautiful instrumentals, but then are obtusely thrust into fluffy emo territory by the vocals, too much so for this listener to reconcile. At its worst, this comes off as an unwillingness to commit to the sonic palatte they chose, or perhaps an attempt to water down the black metal canon they borrow from.

Metal heads (I should state I am not one myself) would be well served to pre-listen to this album before plunging in based on the other glowing reviews. Lest you find yourself halfway stoked and halfway dissatisfied, which can be a very frustrating predicament.