Review Summary: Beauty surpassing beauty. A perfect EP.
Take the intellect approach of French black metal and mesh it with the Joy Division post-punk style and put Alcest main man Neige in the conductor’s spot and you get Amesoeurs. Formed in 2004 by Neige along with Phest guitarist Fursy Teyssler and bassist/ female voice Audrey Sylvain, Amesoeurs released their first EP,
Ruines Humaines, in October 2006. The music is intense, the vocals are wrenched with emotion as Neige screams like no other vocalist I’ve ever heard, the drums are mathematical and precise, and the overall instrumentation is beyond that of any simplistic black metal band. Amesoeurs, with only 3 songs in their arsenal as far as we know of, has already proven to be an underground behemoth waiting to take it’s place at the crown of experimental black metal music.
Bonheur Amputé begins with a post-punky black metal riff that rolls into a burst of emotional angst as Neige releases his pain staking scream as the guitars dominate the intense atmospheres of the song. The breakdowns with the bass and guitar are what make the song most unique as it follows a familiar Joy Division song pattern. The progressive nature of the music overall is intense even with the strained atmosphere of emotional depression. The song is a perfect opener into the next best 11 minutes of my life.
The building synth and acoustic passage work of the opening of
Ruines Humaines shows the true beauty of the band’s nature. As the electric guitars come in with the acoustic, Amesoeurs brings something new to the table in the line of Alcest and My Bloody Valentine, at least until everything explodes into an aura of harsh screams and ballistic drum beats and guitar riffs. The song is beauty even in it’s most intense moments. The essence of musical perfection that can pull one to tears (if they can understand French). The song ends with an experimental piece of industrial sounds playing in a catchy and sporadic rhythm.
Faiblesse Des Sens is again much different as Audrey takes vocal position with her beautiful singing. The song is mostly acoustic building and has a folky/ Ani DiFranco vibe that strikes me as beautiful and daring for a black metal band. The guitar work is catchy and the drum work is easily at it’s most dominate. The song breaks into an electric guitar solo as Audrey continues to sing. After picking up into full electric guitar the song jumps with progressive brilliance, making it the perfect ending to a perfect EP. There is absolutely no flaws on this release except the fact that it’s only 16 minutes long, leaving me yearning for more.
