FOL NAÏS

If you're not familiar with ni they are a very heavy band. Most of the music is instrumental with some occasional screams to keep you on your toes. They make the heaviest King Crimson song sound like a baby's lullaby. Their lineup has remained the same since their first EP release in 2010. For me, this has been a difficult listen. They have some massive riffs, lots of noise, excellent counterpoint, and they are experimenting more, such as the calming intro to "Zerkon". Or the dissonant, gloomy, and eerie intro of "Triboulet Part 1". If that sounds good to you then this is an album not to miss. "Berdic" is my favorite song. Overall, it is mellow for ni standards but it builds to a controlled chaotic mess of energetic madness. The drums and bass on this tune are incredibly tight while the two guitars are weaving and slashing away soundscapes that are not of this world. This is what makes this band unique.

As I mentioned, this is more experimental and darker than their other releases and that could be a plus or minus depending on your preferences. However, what is missing for me is the playfulness the songs from their previous albums had. 3.5 stars.

While I don't think that this album is as good and explosive as their first, I do appreciate that they are trying out new things. The droning intro to the opening track, Zerkon, is pretty good and overall the track is great. Again, like others have said, it depends on your preferences. At its peak it sounds playful, complex, and heavy at the same time, but not quite like Les insurgés de Romilly. There's not as many real head banger moments, but it's still a very solid album, and much better than Pantiphobie in my opinion. While Pantiphobie tries to give off a certain vibe, I like that they learned from that and tried new stuff.

TLDR: Not as good as their first album, but a step up from their pervious. Worth a listen.

Here we have the third album from Anthony Béard (guitar, scream), François Mignot (guitar), Nicolas Bernollin (drums) and Benoit Lecomte (bass), following on from 2019's 'Pantophobie'. Yet again they refuse to sit happily inside any particular musical genre and even the record label asks the question are they math rock, noise, metal, jazz or something else, or all of it and more. I enjoyed their last album immensely so was looking forward to this one and am glad to say I was not at all disappointed. There is something inherently strange about a band who can pummel like Meshuggah, be insanely shred happy like Protest The Hero yet have the progressive inclinations of King Crimson and the off the wall avant garde of Markus Reuter, yet somehow it all works.

I am not surprised it took four years between the debut and the second album, and then four more between that one and this, as this is insanely complicated yet all four are linked in incredibly tightly. It is dense music, comes at the listener like a sledgehammer with changing time signatures and good use of light and shade to the heaviness is even more direct. This is an album which shows very much that they are determined to follow their own path as there is no doubt the sheer heaviness of what is on offer will alienate many progheads while the innate complexity and progressive style will do the same to many metalheads. However, for those of us who happily straddle both camps then this is a delight from beginning to end. It does need to be played loudly to get the most from it, as this is not music to be sat and played delicately, but that is not an issue at all. Challenging and in your face, this is powerful stuff.