Return of Felgrave.

More than four years after its debut album, M. L. Jupe‘s project (all instruments/vocals, ex-Dead Hills) enlists the services of Robin Stone (drums, Norse, Ashen Horde, Chestcrush, ex-The Amenta…) to record its second album, Otherlike Darknesses, which it releases on Transcending Obscurity Records.

We start with Winds Batter My Keep – the first and longest (by a few seconds) of the three compositions – which immediately begins to envelop us in its hazy, heady riffs with a very marked dissonance. The leads transform the rhythm into a chaotic flow, first rather ethereal, then more violent between the terrifying growls and overdriven drums, before calming down with ominous harmonics, only to ignite again with a combination of hellish drums and dark keys, as well as mysterious backing vocals. The track changes patterns once again for its slightly brighter final – though still rather inaccessible to neophytes – before exploding one last time, leading us to Pale Flowers Under an Empty Sky, which welcomes us with a gentle melody in the background, but which of course won’t remain so soothing. The riffs once again devastate everything in their path with tones as complex as they are surprising, but the twelve (excuse the pun) minutes of sound change again, passing as much through tranquility as through an imbroglio of violence or even through hypnotic atmospheric parts before returning to laborious frantic parts. The track comes to an end, giving way to Otherlike Darknesses, which makes a point of weaving sounds just as distressing and unpredictable as the other two tracks, though with a more pronounced attraction to aggression that inevitably corrupts any attempt to return to calm, resulting in the gradual appearance of haunting and ultimately brutal touches until nothingness absorbs them.

In contrast to the previous album, Otherlike Darkness is a much crazier, more experimental album that Felgrave offers us here. If you were expecting heavy Doom/Death, you’ll be more than surprised by the dissonant avant-garde tones.

75/100

Version Française ?