Aephanemer‘s reveries resume.
After spending some time promoting their latest album on the road, Martin Hamiche (guitar/bass/orchestrations), Marion Bascoul (guitar/vocals), and Mickaël Bonnevialle (drums) unveil their fourth album, Utopie.
The album gently opens with Échos d’un monde perdu, an enchanting two-part introduction, the first majestic and the second darker, leading us to Le Cimetière Marin, the first track where the guitars begin to express themselves through intricate harmonics. (French) Vocals join the mix, bringing a raw and aggressive touch that contrasts with the beauty of the instrumental, but the leads remain in the foreground during long passages before joining La Règle du Jeu and its intricate patterns. The neoclassical influences of the guitars are perfect for this piercing and sometimes furious track, rivaling Marion‘s roars, then the track takes on a more joyful tone on Par-delà le Mur des Siècles, once again reinforcing the intrinsic duality that persists, carried in particular by the roars and blast beats. This track also features one of the album’s quietest passages, but it is quickly shattered by violence, picked up by the keyboards, then the two combine again to join Chimère and its frenzied rhythm, which sometimes transforms into imposing riffs. Leads and orchestrations respond naturally to each other between two storms of screams, then Contrepoint takes over with its own playful approach, darkened by the power of the instrumental, while the vocalist tells us her story, sometimes combining vocals and sharp riffs in a striking race. We move on to the long instrumental La Rivière Souterraine, which begins with a slightly crazy piano, then soaring keyboards before the return of heaviness and saturation, still marked by the omnipresent technicality that is executed in several movements, then to Utopie (Part I), which gives us a brief moment of respite. It obviously doesn’t last, and transforms into an unsettling soundtrack before giving way once again to rage for an epic mix that allows for slower, more majestic passages, such as the break before the final part that leads to Utopia (Part II), where the sound is thicker, sometimes even more refined, but still possessing an arsenal of influences ranging as far as shoegaze for certain dissonant harmonics. However, the jerky rhythm of the track eventually comes to an end, and with it the album.
While their previous productions have opened many doors for them internationally, there is no doubt that Utopie takes their concept much further! Although the band chose French for this album, Aephanemer is definitely in great shape!
85/100
Interview coming soon.