01. Électricité Noire
02. Cent Mille Plaies
03. Abîme
04. Larmes De Joie
05. Dévoreur D'Étoiles
06. Train Mort [feat. Marion Leclercq]
07. Frelon Ivre
08. Blanche Réalité
09. Demain J'Abandonne
10. À Jamais Radieuse

It's never too late to venture into new musical territories. Impure Wilhelmina have celebrated their 30-year anniversary by doing so.

The Swiss post-metal/progressive rock band formed by vocalist/guitarist Michael Schindlin in 1996 originally started as a post-hardcore band, but they've developed over their 3-decade career the distinctive dark melancholic and densely atmospheric sound and style they have now. Their latest and 8th full-length album Le Sanglot is a radical transformation for the band, being their most atmospheric and emotionally direct offering to date.

Le Sanglot is the first album in which the lyrics are entirely written and sung in French, with the title Le SSanglot translating to "The Sob", referring to human tears. This title reflects on the album's theme of a broken world with lyrics centred around ugliness, mediocrity, and violence, without abandoning the possibility of hope and grace. Musically it's an emotion-filled 50-minute cinematic journey that blends refined melodic passages and warming atmospheres with their abrasive and crushingly intense origins, mirroring the album's theme of darkness coinciding with light.

Without entirely abandoning their raw post-hardcore roots, they've opted to take a more atmospheric and overall softer approach. This is by merging the genres they're familiar with from their previous work, such as dark progressive rock and post-metal, with new genres and elements from gothic and new wave, to shoegaze and sludge. From the groovy hypnotic opener "Électricité Noire" and the heavy, abrasive, and intensifying "Train Mort" (featuring Marion Leclercq of Mütterlein on harsh vocals), to the light melodies that shift between jarring dissonance in "Blanche Réalité", to the soft melancholic acoustic folk song "Demain J'Abandonne", Le Sanglot is undoubtedly the most dynamic and complex offering in the band's discography. The densely textured arrangements and the richly emotive soundscapes that vividly capture the listeners' imagination is the result from the band's most cohesive, mature, and accomplished songwriting material yet.

Michael Schindl's distinctively smooth and soulful vocals serve as a wonderfully emotive and melodic element, and the lyrics being in French seem to be a more natural fit, adding a certain charm and authenticity that the English language may not have otherwise been able to capture. The rhythm is a vital and competent ingredient, shifting tempo accordingly from frantic to slow, whilst balancing between complex and progressive to groovy. This is courtesy of long-standing bassist Sébastien Dutruel, who heavily drives the rhythm forward alongside drummer Mario Togni, the latter pounding with style or unleashing blast beats. The guitar duo Michael Schindl and Edouard Nicod (who joined in 2023 following the departure of Diogo Almeida) display a variety of impressive guitar work, from sweeping post-metal and heavy melodic hooks, to crushing mid-tempo sludge and dissonance.

Le SSanglot is certainly a well crafted and mature album, but is it their most memorable, or even best release to date? From a songwriting and musicianship perspective you could easily say so, and if you favour a more emotional and atmospheric approach over the pure heaviness, aggression, and general grooviness of their earlier releases, then definitely so. But if it's something along the lines of their earlier material that you'd rather be seeking, then it might take you that extra bit longer to digest. This is a transitioning period in their career that seems like the necessary step for moving forward, it breathes new life and soul into their career, and is a good look for them as they venture forward in the ever-changing world of modern metal.

Performance:	8
Songwriting:	7
Originality:	8
Production:	8