![]() The gorgeous “Dying in A-Minor” hits with wave after wave of ethereal guitar riff as lead vocalist Kris Angylus’ croons are muffed by the rest of the sounds fighting for space. ![]() While this album is very dark, it is also strikingly beautiful in a way that New Bermuda just cannot match. If a rumor circulated that the tape used to record this album was waterlogged, it would have quickly become a widely accepted tall tale. The guitars, bass, vocals, drums, and synths all morph into a crushing tidal wave as they have seemingly all been mixed at about the same level. There is no singular attribute or instrument that can be singled out off The Angelic Process’ magum opus because the album is so successful as a monolith of sound. While not the first to combine hazy shoegaze and titanic metal riffs, no other band has managed to recreate this album’s bleak, muddied atmosphere. Weighing Our Souls with Sand exists without equal. ![]() The Angelic Process – Weighing Our Souls with Sand (2007) The roots of the “blackgaze” genre begin with Alcest, but Écailles De Lune still feels as fresh as ever despite being the focal point of endless imitators. Écailles De Lune features lengthy run times, beautiful transitions between loud and quiet passages, dramatic songwriting, and innovative riffs that run through an infinite chain of immersive delay and distortion pedal. 2”, runs the gamut of black metal, shoegaze, and post-rock in nearly 10 minutes in a similar fashion to how many of the tracks on Sunbather operate. The album’s second track, “Écailles De Lune pt. Other Alcest releases are typically more straightforward attempts at those genres, but this record is a beautiful blending of the two and served as one of the blueprints that George Clarke and Kerry McCoy would draw from.Įverything about this record - from the guitar tone to the way vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Neige’s croons are mixed - should feel like familiar territory. However, Deafheaven faithful should start with Écailles De Lune due to the album’s happy median between black metal and shoegaze. Deafheaven are quick to cite the French shoegaze and black metal project as one of their early influences, and just about any project from Alcest should satisfy a Deafheaven fan. When discussing bands that sound like Deafheaven, Alcest is typically one of the first two bands mentioned.
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