SOUVENIRS D'UN AUTRE MONDE

ALCEST was Neige's child from the very beginning. PESTE NOIRE's guitarist decided to create his own music, and what he took from Black Metal was only a carcass. Musically ALCEST is an amazing Shoegaze/Post-Rock outfit, with some influences of French Folk too (closing "Tir Nan Og" is a good example). The namesake track is definitely my favourite, dreamy, melancholic piece in 6/8 with a wall of guitars and Neige's voice somewhere on the background. if you're into Post-Black stuff, you may find ALCEST a little bit boring, it's not as progressive as ARCTURUS or ENSLAVED, but if you prefer atmosphere to technical supremacy, go no further! Also if you need bands to compare ALCEST with, let's say it's acoustic OPETH covering MY BLOODY VALENTINE classics...and it's highly recommended!

It is always going to be an interesting result when you combine such enigmatic influences as shoegaze, black metal and folk, but that is exactly what French multi-instrumentalist Neige has done with his now solo project, Alcest. Souvenirs d'un Autre Monde (Memories from Another World) contains a sprawling 40 minutes of wall of sound guitars, lucid acoustics and harmonious vocals. Don't be put off by the black metal tag, for while Neige has dabbled in that style, this release doesn't even come close to what Souvenirs d'un Autre Monde is all about.

There is not much variation on each track here, each containing a heavy, but not dark guitar mash. Combine this with simple and effective acoustics and Neige's lovely clean vocals, and you have a simple but beautiful recipe. The shoegaze tag applies well here, as does post-metal. Genre definitions aside, Neige succeeds in developing a memorable and beautiful album that transports the listener to the brightest days of spring, wandering through the verdant meadows. "Printemps emeraude" starts things off, and provides a good base as to what the album would later develop - or not as the case may be. The title track is more acoustically focused, but is in essence similar to the predecessor. "Les Iris" and "Ciel errant" continue in the same manor, mixing gleaming guitar with otherworldly vocal harmonies. "Sur l'autre rive je t'attendrai" begins with a powerful riff, but soon gives way to a lovely female vocal section before continuing in a typical Alcest fashion. The final track, 'Tir an nog" finally sees some real divergence from the styles of the previous songs, with a bright and happy Celtic mood closing the album on an ethereal high. On their own, each song is well crafted and a pleasant listen, however, the almost constant buzz of guitars becomes a bit stale after 30 or so minutes. The lack of dynamic divergence on the album is not terminal by any means, but it does on some occasions feel as though a similar riff just takes off from where the last one ends.

One of the real positive aspects of this album are the vocals, it is refreshing to hear such melodious and pure vocals from a metal artist - Neige has obviously been listening to a lot of Sigur Ros. The vocals really do resemble a French version of 'Hopelandic'. The quieter acoustic sections are also very pleasant, and when combined with the occasional keyboard flourish, it creates an undeniably uplifting and happy tone. Having said this, I was disappointed with the overall repetition of the album, and perhaps with a little more variation, Alcest could well have cracked it here. As it stands, Souvenirs d'un Autre Monde is a beautiful and charming album that just ultimately falls short of what Neige appears to be capable of creating.

''Souvenirs D'Un Autre Monde'' is basically a one-man project by a chap called Neige who, with the exception of some guest vocals on one song, does everything on the album. It's an innocuous collection of tranquil and relaxed grooves, although there's little in the way of melodic interest. There's not much variety either, as all the songs are underscored with droning fuzzed guitars. Apart from the occasional semi-acoustic arpeggio or 3-note lead guitar motif, there really doesn't seem to be much happening. If I was being hypercritical I might even describe it as monotonous and languid, although I love Neige's mellow voice. I recently read a review of an Explosions In The Sky album here on ProgArchives and that review could easily have been written about this Alcest album. The thing is, I had missed the point that this type of music is intended to build to an ''hypnotic climax''. That makes sense because the final track, ''Tir Nan Og'', does sound different and releases the tension that has gradually built throughout the remainder of the album. OK, I understand and it does make for a pleasant listen, but it's just lacking in a bit of lustre for me.

A glorious thematic pathway shimmers admits the tracks of this record, which focuses to the memories of bygone days trough powerful melodic themes, slightly resembling tonal forms familiar from both hymns and lullabies. Relaxed acoustic sequences smoothen the musical intensity, empower the warmheartedness, and reduce the ethereal distance of songs flowing like dreams. Soft vocals swim along thick instrumental layers, which are constructed by synths and electric guitars rolling solemnly, creating a perfect atmosphere for allowing one's mind to wander, and possibly pleasing fans of music with strong symphonic layers. It is pleasant to hear something very coherent appearing from union of controversial ingredients, or at least to me this music sounded quite personal and new. The contrasts have been arranged with smooth transitions, power escalating from detectable turn points, which increased my listening enjoyment and made this music both logical, affecting and pleasant to follow. I think this album has great merits in originality, but I admit I think the following record succeeded even yet greater mastering this achievement as to something awesome.

'Souvenirs d'Un Autre Monde' - Alcest (7/10)

When Alcest's second album 'Ecailles De Lune' came out, I became instantly enamoured with the music of this French post metal band. Now backtracking through this project's earlier work, I have heard them back when they were a pure black metal act with the demo 'Tristesse Hivernale'. Having a solid context and knowledge of how Alcest has developed over the course of a decade, I can appreciate 'Souvenirs d'Un Autre Monde'- Alcest's debut- for what it is; the project's frontman and mastermind taking several steps back from the metal vista towards his more atmospheric influences. Make no mistake, the music on 'Souvenirs' is not black metal, as is the genre that most associate with Alcest. Instead, this debut album takes the listener on an uplifting and dreamlike journey, played in a style called shoegaze. Although 'Souvenirs d'Un Autre Monde' is driven by a very tame palette of sound, the emotional gravity of the work is undeniable.

Although it is quite clear that Neige took the Alcest project to a new echelon with the sophomore, 'Souvenirs d'Un Autre Monde' already has many of the things I first fell in love with the band for' incredible melodies, dreamy textures, and the distinctively mellowed and effete vocals of Neige himself, which are typically washed into the mix in fair shoegaze fashion. Each track here is quite simple in construct and performance for the most part, often relying on uplifting chord progressions and added layers of string plucking or leads to add to the richness of the sound. Although the songs rarely change their direction much from where they first set off, the songwriting here is indeed very pleasant, even if it is a little on the simplistic side. Neige has a naive way of executing the music here as well; his vocals can sometimes sound a little amateurish, but they do manage to strike a feeling in the listener; the closest comparison may be Jonsi of Sigur Ros, but Neige does have a particular sound to his voice that would certainly be difficult to find anywhere in the metal genre.

All of the music on 'Souvenirs' flows much like a dream, and perhaps the only major flaw to the album is that it all flows in the same direction, at the same pace. Very rarely does a song ever throw in an unexpected curveball at the listener, or even cover much of an emotional variety. Instead, Alcest is deadset on one particular sound, then milks it for all its worth throughout the course of the debut. The debut feels quite novice, but the beauty and heartfelt nature of Alcest's music is heard deeply here. Although now in the shadow of the vastly superior 'Ecailles De Lune', 'Souvenirs' remains a pleasant debut from a band who seems fixed on bringing dreams to life.

I've seen black metal purists elsewhere react furiously to this charming debut full-length album from Alcest, since it does jettison an awful lot of what makes black metal, well, black metal. As well has presenting a dreamy, ethereal atmosphere without a hint of the dark misanthropy that characterises much black metal (such as Peste Noire, Neige's previous project), in terms of the actual music it doesn't sound especially metal at all. The walls of guitar noise are much closer to the lush soundscapes of My Bloody Valentine and the rest of the shoegaze crowd than to metal of any sort, and the calm, tranquil vocal delivery likewise distances the band from metal. As shoegaze goes this is alright, I suppose, especially when it incorporates a few stylistic ideas from post-rock/post-metal to expand the bounds of the genre a little, but it feels like much of this won't be that new or fresh to anyone who's already up on the original shoegaze wave of the late 1980s.

ALCEST, although a complete band, wasn't always so. While founded by Neige in 2000 (about the same time he joined Peste Noire), the original band that consisted of Aegnor and Argoth soon imploded after the demo "Tristesse Hivernale. " The two members soon departed leaving Neige as a one-man band for eight long years before a new lineup would occur. This debut SOUVENIRS D'UN AUTRE MONDE ("Memories From Another World"), having been released in 2007 which is the year before a new band would emerge, is in effect a solo album by Neige. This is the Neige show where he tackles lead and backing vocals, guitars, bass, keyboards and drums. There is for a short time one guest vocalist, Audrey Sylvain, on "Sur L'autre Rive Je T'attendrai."

Since SOUVENIRS D'UN AUTRE MONDE is a Neige solo album in disguise, it is of no surprise that it sounds quite different than the albums such as "Écailles De Lune" that follow. While the band has been tagged as shoegaze, blackgaze, post-rock and experimental metal, this debut yields very little in the metal department and is in effect a post-rock album that happens to have a guitar chords that ruffle their feathers to look bigger than they actually are. Like most post-rock, SOUVENIRS relies on a hypnotic run of soft dreamy guitar arpeggios and riffs that ratchet up the tension and ultimately find some sort of crescendo. The overall mood of the album is dark, dripping in nostalgia, rueful regret and euphoric yearning for blissful peace.

It's hard for me to review this album because in all honesty because i find it utterly boring. While this debut has been lauded since ALCEST first hit the scene in the mid naughts, i have had a very difficult time understanding why this clicks with so many and yet leaves me as cold as a whale's ass in the Arctic Ocean. While the future albums are actually quite engaging, this one seems to juxtapose all the wrong elements together in all the wrong places, at least for my tastes. First of all, the vocals are the most annoying of all, sounding like some indie pop twee garage band from small town USA. Despite being tagged metal, there are no metal vocals whatsoever with completely clean vocals dominating the entire album's run.

Secondly, this album chugs along at a snail's pace and never really engages in any dramatic changes. This is a true zone out album if i've ever heard one. While i love post-rock, indie rock, indie pop, post-metal and all the genres this is purported to be, SOUVENIRS is simply mediocre all the way around. It is a lazy breezy type of album that just floats by on codeine with no dramatic passages really ever emerging from the nonchalant drifting through the proper post-rock expectations. Next complaint, the instrumental parts just don't work together for my liking. Neige attempts to deliver black metal attributes such as tremolo picking and guitar solos but performs them so half-assed that it sounds too ridiculous for black metal and likewise sounds too out of character for post-rock.

I can understand some music lover's infatuation with emotional content being enough to make a good album but that is not the case with yours truly. Emotional connections in a pool of mediocrity equals, well, mediocrity. Probably the most competent aspect of SOUVENIRS is the production and mixing job. I do have to admit that the atmospheric qualities work quite well and indeed in retrospect ALCEST was one of the big players that brought the term blackgaze into existence with their debut EP "Le Secret," however Neige got all wimpy with the black metal aspects without jettisoning them all together which creates a rather tenuous vacuous tinniness within the overall structure of the compositions. Well, i'm glad some people can find pleasure in this debut by ALCEST because i sure can't, but i'm all on board starting with the second album.