Review Summary: Amesoeurs by Amesoeurs is a good debut album. Too bad it's also the last one. 10 good songs out of 11 is an admirable effort. Still, it could have used some more finishing work.
The new Amesoeurs album seems to have split opinions among the old listeners. Some feel like it's a bad The Cure - rip-off and the worst project of Neige so far, while others simply love it. I just like it. The album isn't perfect, but almost every track is good, so I don't see much to complaing about, that is if you like this kind of shogazer/post-rock/black metal/whatthefckingever -styled music.
The album starts off with Gas in Veins, which is simply a great atmospheric intro. It build up slowly with a simple, but effective riff accompanied by a blast beat.
The albums continues with tracks of varying quality. Les Ruches Malades is good, but surprisingly I feel like the older demo version of the song is better in most aspects. Especially the vocals are duller. Luckily this isn't enough to make a good song bad. The follow-up "Heurt" though, is just rubbish. The riffs and melodies are ok, but Audrey's singing is at its worst here and the effect used on her voice doesn't make any favours. The unpleasant screaming at 2.30 does its purpose in making the listener feel like someone is puking on the mick. I'm actually quite baffled by Aydrey's performance on these first tracks. Fortunately she significantly improves her performance on the second half of the album, which I'm grateful for. Ugh...
Recueillement introduces Neige on vocals for the first time and is much better than the previous song although not the top of the album. The screaming vocals are a bit off-place here, but that's more of a personal preference I guess. The follower Faux Semblants is much lighter and depends strongly on Audrey's singing, which works very well here. Trouble (Éveils Infâmes) is an ambient-sounding small piece, great 101 seconds actually, which lead to weirdly named I XIII V XIX XV V XXI XVIII XIX – IX XIX – IV V I IV. Neige is on vocals again. This is also propably as metal as this album gets.
Video Girl and La Reine Trayeuse are the first songs to have actual chorus hooks in them. These are also the most likely parts of the album to stay on your head later on. Well, atleast for me they were. La Reine Trayeuse builds up to a fast-tempo metalish ending. This includes some more screaming by Audrey, but not quite as annoying as in "Heurt". Amesoeurs goes back to the lighter feel. Works well enough. Audrey sings at her best in these three songs.
The album finishes with Au Crépuscule de Nos Rêves, which actually covers pretty much every mood to be found on the album. Neige is on vocal duty again.... Aaaand, there it ends. Well, there is a hidden track there somewhere. But that doesn't really affect the scoring.
Overall, the atmosphere of the album, changing from depressing and angsty to hopeful and back, works pretty well. I have heard some complaints about the lyrics, but my conversational French isn't quite enough for me to analyze anything about that aspect. Apparently it's some whining about how the modern urban life sucks. I have no idea, but I guess it should fascinate some angsty teens out there. I don't know why "Heurt" exists, but I'm going pretend it doesn't.
3.5/5
