Alcest - Shelter

Beautiful album, not very metal admittedly, a simple album but perfect just for what it is...

Well, it's ok... Not liking the fact that they sold out with this release. Going from crafting a beautiful dichotomy of Black Metal and Shoegaze to just decent post rock music is a bit disappointing.

Catching up on 2014 releases, gave this a spin. not likely to get many more. just found it boring.

Changed my mind on this, i initially found it quite bland and dissapointing but after a fair few spins its really grown on me, great album.

I saw these guys supporting Opeth last November, they encored with "Delivrance", which is an absolutely beautiful track-both on record and in a live setting. My dad ended up applauding the bassist and commenting how fluent the music sounded.

I've since given this album a few listens in full. Honestly, I've concluded that it seems to be a more seamless record than 'Les Voyages de L'Ame, just not by much. I guess my personal highlight is "Delivrance", though "Opale" is a great track too.

Shelter and Délivrance should have been the only tracks here.

This is secretly one of the best Alcest albums, but I don't think it's going to get the love it deserves here on account of it being their most mellow. There are some absolutely beautiful moments on this record.

Seems to be on par with their post-Écailles material but for some reason the rating drops by comparison universally. I guess people find it too mellow and dreamy without as much content to engage with, but the songwriting isn't drastically worse by any means. It's just slightly less animated.

Written by Troy Killjoy on 13.09.2020 at 21:46

Seems to be on par with their post-Écailles material but for some reason the rating drops by comparison universally. I guess people find it too mellow and dreamy without as much content to engage with, but the songwriting isn't drastically worse by any means. It's just slightly less animated.

I haven't heard their latest yet but to me Kodama was a comeback album after two "okay" releases. Maybe cuz I heard more agression in the songwriting, specially on the drums.

Written by X-Ray Rod on 13.09.2020 at 22:01
I haven't heard their latest yet but to me Kodama was a comeback album after two "okay" releases. Maybe cuz I heard more agression in the songwriting, specially on the drums.

That's the only significant difference I can discern, just a slight edge towards a more straightforward approach with regards to pacing and atmosphere. But it's not like some grand departure between albums -- just a minor stylistic reconfiguration to set a different tone. Kodama still crawls and lulls compared to their back catalog.

Y'all pretending like Alcest sounded like Cannibal Corpse before this album. They were always a shoegaze band with very few atmospheric black elements, this isn't THAT much of a style change. Plus, it sounds amazing