The new year kicks off with an album for Exil.
Created in Hauts-de-France by Kazakh musician Arsen Raziyev (guitar/vocals, ex-Shaours), now joined by Hugo Nogard (bass), Quentin Florin (guitar/vocals) and Alan Dujardin (drums, À la Lanterne, live for Rüyyn), the band has signed with Source Atone Records to unveil their first album, Karga.
The album opens with the gentle Abîme, an instrumental composition starting with percussion before welcoming a haunting melody quickly followed by a few more saturated touches that definitively sink the rhythm, offering a heavy melancholy in its final moments. Karga, the eponymous track, follows suit and infuses its infectious energy, creating a contrast with the tortured screams and icy harmonics that haunt the riffs and cloud our minds as the contrast takes hold and Rodina takes over. Here again, we note an almost joyful base that accentuates the contrast, sometimes even slowing down the riffs to gain heaviness and regain an oppressive atmosphere while the vocalist goes wild before completely sinking into madness in the middle of the track, which breaks down to let spoken words guide us towards visceral acceleration. The rhythm changes naturally and ultimately brings us to Tchujoï, which draws on its slightly rougher Old School roots, but can always count on lead guitar to bring an airy element throughout this long and haunting composition, which also features soothing influences to create a new contrast and hypnotize us with its finale. Délivrance allows us a moment of respite with a very calm and melodious acoustic guitar, but the minute ends quickly in favor of Avec ou Sans Vous, which returns to saturation and promises to be a little darker, although relatively soft, letting the different waves hit us, whether it be the aggressive parts or the oriental Post-Punk roots. The atmosphere changes once again with Poussière, which feeds the marked opposition between abrasive saturation and playful patterns, allowing the vocalists to deliver a striking performance while the heady rhythm continues, but the break changes the game by placing a haunting passage to let us breathe in the company of the words, then the rhythm envelops us again, softer but also more painful. The final eruption will come soon enough, recreating the atmosphere of the last moments, then it is in the company of Amy Tung Barrysmith (Amenra, Year Of The Cobra), the band delivers L’Exil, the last track, which is unusually peaceful, both in terms of their guest’s intoxicating voice and the instrumental that lulls us gently to close the album.
I’ve never heard of Exil before, but I will definitely be following the band’s progress from now on! Karga seems both familiar and original, combining familiar tones with totally new elements in a way that is as enjoyable as it is disconcerting.
90/100
A few questions for Arsen Raziyev and Alan Dujardin, guitarist/vocalist and drummer of the band EXIL respectively, for the release of their first album, Karga.
Hello, and first of all, thank you for taking the time to talk to me! Without using any style labels, such as “Black Metal” and its subgenres, how would you describe the band EXIL?
Alan Dujardin (drums): EXIL is an amalgamation of several genres and impulses coming from the four of us. I think that since Quentin (guitar/vocals) and I joined, the band has found stability. Coming from different musical backgrounds, we each bring our influences and style to the table, more or less tacitly. Exil is also representative of a melancholy that has been there since its beginnings with YAD, which is conveyed both in the lyrics and musically. This is coupled with a rage that we surely carry within us every day and that is revealed in our music. This is linked to our very instinctive way of composing, without wanting to stray from the question; we like to compose based on emotion and not pre-construct a song. It seems simple, “we put together riffs that work together and it makes a song,” but it’s obviously more complicated than that. Composing with feeling requires that the song stand the test of time. By playing it over and over again at certain moments in our lives, whether alone, in rehearsal, or on stage, elements are added naturally, and that’s what we’re looking for. We’re not looking for what “works” or what will “please,” but for personal satisfaction. So, to sum up, I would say that EXIL is at once primitive, exalted, and melancholic.
Why did you choose this name, and how do you personally relate it to the music you play?
Arsen Raziyev (guitar/vocals): For me, EXIL is the band name that best illustrates my life journey. “Chuzhoy sredi svoikh, i svoy sredi chuzhikh » is a phrase that perfectly sums up who I am, which could be translated as “A stranger among you, and unknown to my own people.” Exile can also be mental, because we are all running away from something somewhere. “Karga” means the raven, which is present in all the world’s mythologies and occupies an important place in the steppes of Central Asia. Above all, I saw a local work that would become global and could speak to everyone.
Your first album, Karga, is coming out at the end of January. How do you feel within the band? Have you had any feedback about it yet?
Arsen: Very good. We’re promoting it, which is something we hadn’t done much before. And since we’re already working on new songs, we can’t wait to release it and move on to the next step and do some concerts.
Alan: We’re very happy that this album is finally seeing the light of day, as we took so long to design and produce it. It’s so much work, meticulous choices, stressing about not forgetting anything and wanting to do it right. We’re preparing for the next step because it’s been a while since we finished recording Karga. We’re eager to write new songs and discover new horizons!
How would you summarize Karga in three words?
Arsen: Sober, authentic, folkloric.
Alan: Chilling, old-school, intoxicating.
How did the songwriting process for Karga go? Did you notice any changes compared to the band’s beginnings in 2020?
Arsen: The composition process took two years, during which we played various residencies and concerts in Paris and the north of France. As we’re more of a live band, we prefer to test our songs in concert before we start recording them. That allows us to get a sense of the overall effect. It’s also why the songs are so different from each other, without sticking to an initial style. Compared to YAD, there is still a formula with an intro, an interlude, and an ending. And we also have a very important guest. At first, when I composed the first EP YAD on my own, I didn’t know how far to go, because we didn’t even know if concerts would ever take place. Little by little, I met more and more people who made me want to continue what I was doing. And with Karga, I would say that there are now several of us involved in composing the tracks in general. Everyone has contributed ideas and textures to enrich this album. And personally, it’s nice to no longer be the only one in charge of the project, while still being able to guide the team towards the final goal.
Alan: As luck would have it, every song we wrote made it onto the album. A consistent and natural coherence, as I explained above, was created and can be felt. Of course, there were riffs and beginnings of songs that didn’t make it and were abandoned (which, incidentally, are currently resurfacing in another form to go further—the test of time, I tell you!) and didn’t make it to the “song” stage. So the names were chosen not in relation to the lyrics but rather to the musical atmosphere of each song. It is by no means a concept album in several chapters, but I think you can see a beginning, a middle, and an end quite clearly if you read the song titles in order and use your imagination a little, which I invite the listener to do.
The band’s sound mixes ethereal and depressive Black Metal with touches of Eastern European Post-Punk. How do you manage to combine these two worlds to create your own unique sound? Which bands would you cite as your main influences?
Arsen: Since I was learning French in Kazakhstan, I listened to a lot of French black metal. In the end, I ended up mixing Black Metal with the depressing atmosphere I had at home in a post-Soviet country with winters at -40 degrees… I’ll let you imagine the cocktail that resulted when I decided to pick up my guitar to transcribe that into riffs and lyrics.
Arsen: Lifelover, Deathspell Omega, Zemfira.
Alan: During the Karga period, I listened to Regarde les Hommes Tomber a lot (I must have seen them 10 times haha) as well as Lunar Tombfields, Véhémence, Vortex of End.
About vocals, there are lyrics in French, Kazakh, and Russian. How did you decide on the diversity of languages, and especially their placement in the songs?
Arsen: It depends on the song, but I would say that a lot of it was instinctive. For songs like Rodina and Avec ou sans vous, we wrote them almost as we were recording. For Poussière, Alan wrote the French parts and I took a paragraph from the Kyrgyz author Chingiz Aïtmatov and added a few passages in Russian. For Tchujoï it was the same, we did 50/50 with Alan. Overall, with this album, we’ve evolved and found it easier to mix different languages in a way that keeps it consistent.
Alan: At the time, I regularly wrote verses that sometimes formed poems and sometimes didn’t, with the sole purpose of clearing my head, and if by chance they were good enough, they would end up in one of the band’s songs. I write in French and sometimes in English when I feel like it. Arsen would sometimes take part of what I had written, or all of it, or draw inspiration from it and rewrite it in Russian. It was all about the feeling, nothing but the feeling.
Karga‘s latest track, L’Exil, features American singer Amy Tung Barrysmith (Amenra, Year Of The Cobra). How did you contact her to give her the lead role in this track, which is really different from the others?
Arsen: We met Amy in 2018, when I was organizing concerts in the Lille area, long before EXIL. I had them play several times and after various encounters, we always stayed in touch. In 2024, when we were looking for what to do with this track, I had a brainwave. A bit like with Graf von Baphomet on YAD, I sent Amy a simple email with a demo of the track and asked her if she could do it. When I got her reply a few days later, she had already written the lyrics, recorded her vocals and backing vocals, and asked me if it was okay or if she needed to redo some takes. It was a one-shot, we all agreed to keep all her takes authentic, as they fit so well with the song and the aesthetic of the album.
Karga is released on Source Atone Records, how is the collaboration with this label going? How did you get in touch with them?
Alan: I knew the label by sight as I’m friends with three quarters of the members of the late Virgil who were on that label. It turns out that Source Atone isn’t exclusively Black Metal, nor Post-Hardcore, nor any other genre. Which is perfect because I wouldn’t really know how to label EXIL in a way that would make sense. The guys listened to the album, they liked it, they invited us to meet them at their headquarters, and we quickly came to an agreement, both on a business and personal level, which was also crucial for us. As Alexandre Astier would say, “I don’t want to work with assholes anymore.” The collaboration is going wonderfully, as they give great advice and are easy to reach on a daily basis. We feel very lucky to have them.
Sözö Tözö?‘s artwork is both very raw and minimalist. What were the guidelines or instructions for its creation?
Alan: I found this painting on his Instagram profile and we fell in love with it instantly. There was no discussion; this artwork was the perfect choice.
The band has already played a few dates, mainly in the north, your region, but also two in Paris and two in Belgium. How do you approach a concert with EXIL? Do you have any pre- or post-concert rituals?
Arsen: We’re always open to playing with bands of different styles, as it allows us to bring together an audience we don’t usually see. I really enjoy meeting people after concerts. After all, it’s the audience that makes these moments so special.
Alan: Since Tyrant Fest, a glass of red wine during the concert has been a very pleasant companion. Afterwards, I go and see people at the merch stand and I like to hang out with the other musicians in the dressing rooms and chat. Concerts are also a time for sharing and an opportunity to see old friends or make new ones.
What are EXIL‘s next projects after the album release?
Arsen: New compositions are coming, and it will take us less time to do the follow-up, whether it’s an EP or a split, time will tell.
Alan: We have songs for an EP that will be more “raw” and “incisive,” and why not a split if we find the right band to do it with! Five years have passed between the split and the album, and we don’t want to wait several more years to release something new.
Do you think you’ve improved as musicians and composers with this album?
Arsen: Every recording is a new experience that brings a different perspective. So I would say yes, in terms of composition, I pushed my limits with this album.
Alan: Absolutely! The studio doesn’t cut you any slack, and even if you think you’re ready, you’re never ready enough. I’m very grateful to Frédéric Pecquer for pushing me to my limits during the recordings because I was able to analyze and become aware of my flaws. It’s a lesson to be taken with humility, and it helps you get stronger for the next compositions.
Which bands do you dream of playing with? I’ll let you imagine your dream date with EXIL as the opening act and three other bands.
Arsen: Year of the Cobra, Alcest, and let’s dream a little, Gojira as the opening act somewhere in Kazakhstan.
Alan: Véhémence, Darkthrone, The Cure.
Last question: what dish would you compare EXIL‘s music to?
Arsen: The Uyghur monument dish – mantis.
Alan: Paella, obviously!
So that was my last question. Thank you for your time, and I’ll leave you with the last word!
Arsen: Support authentic art created by human beings.
Alan: Artists and artisans need you more than ever. Consume locally as much as possible, buy your albums from labels and bands, and go to festivals.
PS: Thank you for your questions, it was interesting to answer them!