Through the power of their music, Alcest take you on a journey. Each record they release acts like a doorway into another world; sometimes celestial, often spiritual, certainly always beautiful. ‘Kodama’, the fifth album from the French pioneers of “blackgaze”, is no exception to this rule. Inspired by the stunning Hayao Miyazaki animated movie, ‘Princess Mononoke’, and with the title itself referring to the tree spirits of Japanese folklore, it continues down the mythical path that primary songwriter, Neige, has been heading over the course of Alcest’s career.
Known for their penchant for thinking outside the box with every album, Alcest have once again thrown another curveball with ‘Kodama’. Their previous effort, ‘Shelter’, saw the band drop any reference to their roots in black metal, and was a gloriously uplifting alternative rock masterpiece. This time, Neige and Winterhalter have taken cues from their own unrivalled back catalogue, with ‘Kodama’ bearing more likeness to their 2010 breakthrough album, ‘Ecailles De Lune’. This is far from a regression for Alcest, and have once again broken boundaries by showing there are no limits to where you can take guitar-based music.
‘Kodama’ is neither as light and dreamy its predecessor, nor as ferocious as the heavier moments on ‘Escailles De Lune’. Alcest have looked to a more progressive rock structure for the most part, with each song steadily gaining momentum over some of the most robust, analytical drumming that we have seen from Winterhalter. It provides a solid backbone for Neige to bring the triumphant guitar lines of the album’s title track to life, along with an echoing, almost chanted vocal harmony. The tone of the guitar work is covered in lush reverb, with subtle use of guitar effects to give the ‘Kodama’ an ethereal air.
Where ‘Kodama’ will draw comparison to Alcest’s earlier material, is the return of blast beats, tremolo picked guitar playing, and harsher vocals. Rather than apply this at length, this element is peppered throughout ‘Kodama’, and used only when needed to add drama, suspense, and tension. When they effortless switch from melodic, life-affirming passages into a quicker pace of hypnotic blasts, it seems natural. ‘Je Suis D’ailleurs’ blooms and decays with cohesion, as the heavier moments fit perfectly among the track’s delicate, weeping guitar leads.
The album is once again sung entirely in French, and the eloquent vocal delivery of Neige allows his voice to act as another instrument. Perfectly positioned within the mix of ‘Kodama’, the ambience of his singing is spine-tingling, and when he wretches the passionate screams from his larynx during the heavier sections of ‘Oiseaux De Proie’, it is simply breath-taking.
To say that Alcest have redefined heavy music would probably be an overstatement, but they have undoubtedly pulled it into a completely new place. No other band could create such an uplifting, stirring, and beautiful record like ‘Kodama’ and have it labelled as everything from black metal, post-rock, and shoegaze. With a genre-defying legacy like Alcest have, and their known penchant for shape shifting with each release, ‘Kodama’ is everything you hoped it would be from them, yet sounds nothing like you expected it to.
GLEN BUSHELL