Alcest - Les Voyages de l' Âme

"Les voyages de l'âme" ("The Journeys of the Soul") is Alcest's third album and contains the quintessence of the group's creative work to date. This is what ‘Prophecy Records’ states about this very album and they are indeed accordingly right. Barely two years after the amazing ‘’Écailles de Lune ‘’ which gained a lot of unfair critisim due to it’s structure, Alcest are back with a record of the year nominee even though we’re not even half way through the first month on 2012.

This release incomporates  all the elements that Alcest is precisely known for. It’s definately an album that you have to feel, that you have to listen mostly with your heart rather than your ears and even though it could be the soundtrack for a lachrymose occasion, it is peacefulness and tranquillity that you perceive after listening to the album rather than pessimism. The first track of the album ‘’Autre Temps’’ which also serves as the band’s first ever music video is an outstanding opener, which unlike the previous records it features a verse-chorus-verse kind of structure that I find quite ideal as it is a great way to dive into the joyfulness of this difficult-to-digest album. As we travel further with ‘’Là Où Naissent Les Couleurs Nouvelles’’ and so on the gloomy and melancholic passages we have grown to love in Alcest run this album as a whole tied with very few black metal elements that offer to a great degree to the songs. And that’s what is so unique about this album. "Les voyages de l'âme’’ features the significance that all of Neige’s  previous works had and even though all the tracks are fairly long, each and every one of them has something to offer. ‘’Nous Sommes L'Emeraude’’ encompasses a nostalgic feel and it’s impressive what conncetion can create with the listener. Moving on, the noticeable female vocals in the beginning of ‘’Beings of Light’’ create a mysitcal atmosphere which explodes into a beatufiful guitar passage that goes on for the rest of the song, with that very vocal layer added on the top of it, giving that airy and exquisite feel that basically exists in the whole album which keeps pretty much in the same pace until the end with an epic conclusion that is the final song ‘’Summer’s Glory’’.

The performances from Neige and Winterhalter are exceptional to say the least. The musical aspect of this record is nothing less than genious, even though that characterisation seems to be a bit exaggerating, I believe that it takes real talent to write such musical pieces. The vocals of the entire album are angelic and etherial and the drums that Winterhalter has graced us wiith in this release couldn’t have been more  fitting. Everything is well-executed and the ideas are impressive. Also, I can’t end this review without sharing some words about this amazing cover art by the one and only Fursy Teyssier of fellow French ‘’Les Discrets’’ which is the perfect fit  for "Les voyages de l'âme’’.

To make a long story short, with this thrilling release Alcest manages to remain at the top of their game, "Les voyages de l'âme" offers harmonies, dissonance, and everything in between. The whole album is a soundscape, a musical companion that is present through your most disconsolate times but gives you the warmth that you were longing for. A grandiose album that many will not be able to appreciate but it is really something that you should let yourself into. It all seems to be a matter of perfection after all.

Standout tracks: Autre Temps, Nous Sommes l'Emeraude, Summer’s Glory
Also check: Amasoeurs, Lantlôs, Les Discrets
Tracklist:
1. Autre Temps (Album Version) 
2. Là où Naissent les Couleurs Nouvelles
3. Les Voyages de L'Âme
4. Nous Sommes l'Emeraude
5. Beings of Light
6. Faiseurs de Mondes
7. Havens
8. Summer's Glory

9/10  Lefteris K.