Band:	Alcest
Album:	Souvenirs D'un Autre Monde
Style:	Shoegaze, Atmospheric black metal
Release date:	August 03, 2007
A review by:	Jeff

01. Printemps Emeraude
02. Souvenirs D'un Autre Monde
03. Les Iris
04. Ciel Errant
05. Sur L'autre Rive Je T'attendrai
06. Tir Nan Og

Alcest has never released any real full length album but the French band is already cult. After a split and a demo, Neige (the main man of the combo and? only musician) found a deal with the famous German label Prophecy to release his first album, "Souvenirs D'un Autre Monde". The album will be out in August and you can be sure of one thing, we will remember it!

The funny thing here is that Neige used to play (and still plays with other bands by the way) Black Metal with Alcest. Here don't even expect anything like that, "Souvenirs D'un Autre Monde" is an album of melancholic Metal (and even Pop like on the track "Ciel Errant") but God, this is extremely good and intelligent. If you like the last Antimatter (also released on Prophecy) or the last Anathema, be sure that you'll check this release which is, in my opinion, one of the best releases in the category this year. This is fresh, extremely "sweet" like a candy and really emotive (no, that's not something for you if you only want to listen to "troo" or "krieg" Metal). To sum up, with "Souvenirs D'un Autre Monde" we're just in front of a really beautiful album of atmospheric music, something hypnotic, something tender and extremely catchy too. This is this kind of album that you'll listen to again and again!

The music of "Souvenirs D'un Autre Monde" is special though. This is really calm and peaceful with real saturated guitars however and even if it's not Black or Pagan Metal it's obvious that these kind of music inspired Neige to compose this album because we can easily feel these influences, especially for the spirit in the six songs of the album. But you have to know that you'll have to be extremely open minded to enjoy this release because it's not pure Metal and flirts a lot with dark Pop but honestly I don't care? it's just good and we don't have to listen to overdriven guitars every time that we listen to a CD after all.

"Souvenirs D'un Autre Monde" is a beautiful album and I'm sure that all the ones who like "poetic" music will love this release. I highly recommend it to all the ones who like peaceful music, really this is a must. Alcest was already cult before that Neige release a first official album, but now that I listened to "Souvenirs D'un Autre Monde" I can tell you that this status is all but an usurpation.