Hm. Nothing new here. Guess it's a good album, but it lacks the pathos and epicness of "Septembre", one of the best albums of the genre. Atmospheric/acoustic parts are moving as ever, but riffs are sometimes unmemorable if not recycled, and what about the vocals? Fursy sounds a bit lazy here. And anyway, we've heard this so many times before. It gets really better during the second half though, "La nuit muette" being a highlight -it does reflect that cover artwork: dark and enigmatic. The title track is nice but nothing special and "La traversée" is probably their worst song... Too long and damn boring. "Le mouvement perpétuel" and "Après l'ombre" are pretty damn good too, but isn't the latter an "old" song of the 2009 split with Alcest?

I'm slightly disappointed. Seems like this kind of "post-black-shoegaze" is already running out of ideas.
Anyway, despite all its flaws, it's still very likeable thanks to its calm and severe mood... And at least it's not a failure like the new Alcest.

7/10

I'll drop my two cents about this one soon enough...

Yep, this is some mighty fine bootwatching. It's better than Alcest's latest that's for sure.

Written by R'Vannith on 06.02.2012 at 08:57

It's better than Alcest's latest that's for sure.

Oh yeah, this definitely can't reach the same level of repugnant self-indulgence!

Written by [user id=39762] on 06.02.2012 at 10:34

Written by R'Vannith on 06.02.2012 at 08:57

It's better than Alcest's latest that's for sure.

Oh yeah, this definitely can't reach the same level of repugnant self-indulgence!

Far too airy-fairy for my liking, there is some beautiful material there but it's stretched out to breaking point. 'Beings of Light' is the only one I find myself occasionally returning to.

This on the other hand has a bit more substance I feel. More of an edge in the second half, and as you mentioned up in the first post the second half is better.

Hm, I like this. I wonder how often will I come back to it but so far it is satisfying enough. Around 7,5 or more.

I found this to be much more of a let down, and less inspired than Alcest's latest. The new Alcest grew on me the more I listened, but this seems to become more of a chore to listen to with repeated spins.

Loving it. Gets better every listen.

Best album of 2012 so far!

Oo, been looking forward to this one.

Great album but not the best of 2012

I discovered Les Discrets and Amesoeurs in 2011 they are really great. Saw that Alcest was a top album 2010
but never listened to them because of the genre label: black-metal.
But ... in this month 2012 I gave Alcest a try, some article had put a lable on them as
"blackend shoegaze" that sounded more interesting and another article labed them as "blackgaze".
I'll never regret it Alcest are awsome .... ! Fuck genre and labels.
Otherwise I'm into atmospheric / slude metal genre.

Being fairly new to the whole "metalgaze" movement I didn't really have any expectations when I decided to give Les Discrets latest a go. I quickly found it surprisingly satisfying but I couldn't help but feel that maybe, just maybe it would pale in comparison to that other bands stuff. So! I got a hold of Alcest's 2012 release as well and only listened to these two albums for a few days.

The verdict? Ariettes Oubliées... is the better album. I simply think that it has more going for it with beautiful guitar melodies that stick in your mind and just enough metal during the gazing as to not make you fall asleep. Most importantly it feels more substantial than Alcest's latest, which was good, but not great.

Written by Draugen on 21.03.2012 at 15:32

The verdict? Ariettes Oubliées... is the better album. I simply think that it has more going for it with beautiful guitar melodies that stick in your mind and just enough metal during the gazing as to not make you fall asleep. Most importantly it feels more substantial than Alcest's latest, which was good, but not great.

You got it right, bro. Alcest's latest feels like music for sleeping as opposed to this record that constantly amazes with it's melodies. It can be very relaxing but not boring.

"La nuit muette" is the highlight, it have the most interesting sound and ideas in the album, the other songs have nice riffs, melodies and rythms, well-balanced ensemble (perfect drums, nice guitars and bass conversations), nothing is very predictable in this album, but the songs aren't remarkable, the music just flow. However, is a very good album, every time I hear it again I find it better.

Great job again.

For the longest time, I have given this a 7, probably because I haven't been paying much attention to this album often. Recently, after listening to it many times and reevaluating this album, I really love this album the same way I loved the band's debut album. While some say it's not as good as "Septembre..." this is definitely one of the best releases of the decade.