Review Summary: Gris working as a psychopomp to the exploration of anguish, aids you in the facing of the Styx that is emotion.
"Rage, rage against the dying of the light" was Dylan Thomas' memorable answer to the ever looming presence of death. Through
À l’âme enflammée, l’äme constellée… Gris seems to have transcended the fear associated with the limited nature of existence and found solace in the deepest abysses of the human condition.
The album, divided into two equal halves, is a collection of dark, morbid and soulrending songs that are artfully blended into a whole that is quite unlike the multitude that is contemporary melodically inspired black metal. Even if partly forced, the comparisons to other Francophone bands such as Alcest and Les Discrets as well as the Ukrainian melodic black metal giant that is Drudkh, are merited.
The sometimes extreme depths of introversion which Gris transports one into are skillfully balanced by the acoustic interludes and introes that build the melodic backdrop of the album. The first track gracing any would-be listeners ears, “L’Aube”, is surely intended as a psychopomp of sorts – transporting the listener to the world wrought by the shadows of the imagination, inhabited by the fury, devastation and glimmers of hope that is
À l’âme enflammée, l’äme constellée… . Without the aid of the acoustic intro the titanic weight of “Les Forges”, the fifteen-minute second track would surely be overwhelming.
The pained screams of Icare are used as merely one element in the very ambitious compositions that fill the album. Listening to the album one gets the sensation of a band wholly dedicated to the music, without pretension and ego. The members of Gris are working as vessels to be sacrificed, when necessary, at the altar of expression. This sense of a spiritual dedication to the music is punctuated by choice of song names that points the listener in the direction of eastern mysticism.
À l’âme enflammée, l’äme constellée… contains a myriad of memorable moments but if forced to choose, I would single out the abovementioned “Les forges”, the intense opener of the second part of the album “Moksha” as well as the two closing tracks “Une épitaphe de suie” and “Nadir”.
Gris, in its grimvisag’d search for the sublime beauty in suffering, stands in a class of its own. The subsequent release, or
Moksha, is not the only goal.
I am not averse to constructive criticism either; I noticed that I'm guilty of some repetition and disjointedness that I'll solve in future reviews. This was written in a state of fugue prompted by the album...
