Orakle - Uni Aux Cimes - review
Orakle - Uni Aux Cimes - review
Tracklist
01. Emergence02. L'Instant Du Dessus
03. Le Distant
04. Gnose
05. Uni Aux Cimes
06. Instables
07. Le Seuil Ardent
08. Abyssale
09. Oui
A review by
Deadsoulman September 03, 2005
The amazing opener "L'Instant Du Dessus" is by itself worth the purchase of the album. This is probably the most complex track of the album, with incessant breaks, very inspired arrangements and rhythm changes. The vocals are just brilliant and original, as they are all along the 53 minutes of this high-class debut album: aggressive black metal screams alternate with theatrical clean vocals and choirs à la Arcturus that bring a nice avant-garde touch. Orakle's metal is extremely melodic, grandiloquent and follows the path opened by Emperor and Arcturus.
Ok, I said it, "Uni Aux Cimes" is obviously influenced by the Scandinavian melodic black metal scene, with a high technical level. Abrasive and catchy riffs are often counterbalanced by acoustic passages, top-notch solos and brass breaks, like the very jazzy end of "Abyssale", the other standout track of the album. But even if the songs are quite long, very complex and each contain a dozen different good ideas, "Uni Aux Cimes" is not messy. Actually it flows smoothly like one bizarre theatre play (like "La Masquerade Infernale", but with a metal instrumentation), an impression reinforced by the intelligent and poetic lyrics in French (if you can find a translation somewhere, don't hesitate, it is worth a bit of your time!). The riffs, whether full-paced black metal or slowed down on atmospheric passages always manage to surprise the listener. "Uni Aux Cimes" never sounds like déjà-vu. Every song has its own personality that fits perfectly in this majestic piece of art.
The production is almost as great as the music. Only almost, because in my humble opinion, the vocals are recorded too much in the background. On really fast and brutal passages, you hardly hear them at all. Other than this little detail, "Uni Aux Cimes" has the production that such a classy album deserves: clear, cold, bombastic and powerful. As it is, such a complex album would have been unbearable had the sound been bad. It's the other way round here, once you've started, you can't help but feel like listening to it over and over again.
As you may have understood, this album has very pleasantly confirmed all the good things I though about Orakle. "Uni Aux Cimes" is a very mature album, one of the kind that you would expect only from a more experienced band. Anyway, Orakle proves again that the French black metal scene is nowadays one of the best you can find and sets the pace with this "Uni Aux Cimes" destined to become one of the milestones of grandiose and epic black metal. Let me repeat myself: this is my favourite black metal album of the year, hands down. Enough said, this is a must.
Highlights: L'Instant Du Dessus (check it out on MS September compilation), Le Distant, Abyssale
Written by Deadsoulman | September 03, 2005
Comments
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Posts: 810
So far, i've been looking for good and unique black metal bands/albums and shit have I ever fell upon one great album, Uni Aux Cimes. I was really impressed with the talented and diversified musicianship, this is an amazing album. Can't wait to hear the new one, is it as good, even better ?
---- Any man can stand adversity, but to test his character give him power - A. Lincoln
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Posts: 8004 Written by Visioneerie on 01.12.2008 at 15:29 I actually believe that the new album is better than this one. It's slightly less extreme, but the work on the vocals is much momre impressive and it sounds much more focused. The songwriting is more memorable as well.
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 Posts: 2955 |
Posts: 2955
Just get it and im lovin it already! Amazing black metal act!
----  ---- member of the true crusade against old school heavy metal, early 80s thrash, NWOBHM, traditional doom, first and second wave black metal, old school death metal, US power metal, 70s prog rock and atmospheric doomsludgestoner. o/
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