Alcest - Les Chants De L'Aurore

And the countdown begins!

Ok, this is fucking beautiful. I know that is to be expected from Alcest when it comes to the main vibe. But after so many years I'm still floored because of how his music makes my heart grow a couple of sizes and suddenly I have no care in the world. It just transports you to a better mind state.

Very excited for this. Beautiful first single

While I can't say I'm too much a fan of Alcest (Sans Le Secret and the debut, those albums are great), I cannot nor willnot deny Neige's uncanny ability to be able to somehow read and manifest the listener's emotions (particularly positive ones) through his music. That's a whole different level of talent right there.

Splendid!

Omg, omg, omg!!!

I like it. It's obviously enjoyable for a fan of the band, but I do wish that Neige used his epic harsh vocals more throughout! I also wish there were a few more songs, I don't find much substance in the piano interlude or the closing track, effectively leaving the album with 5 songs. It suffers from the same fate as Spiritual Instinct, the front half of the album is much stronger than the back half.

Heard the whole album. I like the music, it is on par with last two albums regarding quality IMHO 8/10. The only thing i did not like are to prominent drums in the mix to the point I find them sometimes distracting like in Komorebi.

Now here's a band that in the past I often found myself struggling to get into. I find each of their albums contain several moments of brilliance with some stunning melodies to be found, and performance-wise they always seem top-notch, but despite that, as a whole, their albums still never seemed to quite click with me for some reason. This album is similar in the fact there's some outstanding moments, "Améthyste" and "L'Enfant de la Lune (月の子)" seem to stand-out the most for me, but there's also moments I find quite dull tbh. It's a good album overall but still just fails to provide me with that wow factor.

What can i say? i'm a fan. it evokes all the emotions the previous efforts did and the performance is top notch as usual. i do agree with the first half being stronger, especially because i'm a sucker for a hard-hitting closer, but i still enjoyed it all the way through.

Another beautiful release from Alcest, maybe some more listens and I'll raise my rating. But year as always, just beautiful


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After few more listens I think that in this album Neige managed to accomplish the things that he failed to achieve with Shelter

This lies somewhere between Shelter and Kodama, kinda mediocre album in my opinion, not impressive enough in mellow or 'heavy' parts. Guitar is still signature-level though.

Always good! genius

I liked Spiritual Instinct a bit more because its aggressiveness helped it feel fresher. Like others have said, this album is a fitting extension of Shelter and Kodama and it's pretty good. It isn't quite grabbing me like most of their previous albums but it definitely fits with summertime so more listens will help. The drumming is indeed pretty high in the mix but I like that because it helps make the songs sound a little more lively. I could see how it would be too much if I listened to it on different speakers though. To me their last three albums have felt too short or rather lacked endings which were as strong as their openings, probably the one thing that Shelter surprisingly balanced better than all three of them.

Komorebi and Améthyste are my favorites of the bunch but there aren't many noticeable peaks and valleys through the album in terms of quality, it just gets gradually less interesting.

I think it's a good album. Alcest used to evoke feelings and thoughts in me even while listening passively... for the first 3 albums. But I don't why it doesn't have the similar affect anymore. The only reason i could think of is that I've changed.

The album is good background music to me now... but apart from that doesn't leave a lasting impression

Their debut was best, I am not super gaze fan , but first part of album was closer to metal, later part to much soft keyboard parts.

It's beautiful, L'Envol and Flamme Jumelle might be one of the best songs they have ever written! Goosebumps just thinking about these two amazing songs!

Couldn't get the same enthusiasm I got with their last album. Way more softer than the earluer ones.

Pure gold od awesomeness what a fucking feeling!!

Such a beautiful, positive sounding album. Alcest's ability to bring positive emotions about is unmatchable.

I find this album annoying and dull.

Switch to a major label was expected but still it was a mistake (as well as dropping their long time sound engineer Benoît Roux)

This is the first album of Alcest that I actually did not like. It reminds me of the "Shelter" situation, which even had a great track ("L'Eveil Des Muses").

My personal Top 3 songs from the album:

Komorebi
Améthyste
L'Envol

Oh interesting, we've got some very happy upbeat sunshine and rainbows black metal to kick off the album. L'Enval is like seeing a beautiful sunset after a dark and stormy day. A very interesting setup for when the darker stuff kicks in on track three. This album was strange, in a good way, and while there's more shoegaze here than atmoblack in my opinion, that is okay with me, because that's where a lot of the best parts of this album are held.

So they decided to record and produce this album by themselves, hence the major sound shift. This kind of 'we don't want studio pressure' decision ruined soooo many bands