The gelid land of Canada seemed to had frozen the project Gris but finally their stasis comes to an end; five years and an half have passed from that masterpiece named Il était une forêt... and Gris doesn't fail this time either. A monumental album (ten songs, two discs for over eighty minutes playtime) full of acoustic passages sorrounded by melting melodies, thanks to the consolidated using of the violin and the cello. Continual dissonances can be heard throughout the span of the disc, thus well representing the key concept of the themes of the duo, which is the balance between joy and despair (this sort of balance is reflect even in the name on the band: Gris in fact means grey, a perfect balance of black and white). In some songs it is easy to forget the vocals thanks to the melodies of Icare and Neptune who are able to immerge the listener in their instrumental passages.
The two discs are composed in a symmetrical manner with five tracks on each disc and the duration of each track is roughly the same as that of the corresponding track on the other disc. It is easily recognizable as a Gris album but from a certain point of view they look like another band : they have assimilated various elements of post black metal and shoegaze, reduced the piano parts and increased the acoustic interludes and the vocals in the background.
The duo has definitely taken a step forward regarding the production, much clearer and cleaner than in the past. Some tracks (“L ' Aube”, “Samsara”, “Sem”) are practically intros to the following ones but they are absolutely not to be considered fillers , but instead they create the right atmosphere for the rest of the disc.
The lyrics are constructed in a very poetic way that fits perfectly the music: by reading them one can feel a sense of anger mixed with sadness that screams against the inexorable decline of mankind and his sense of spirituality, all this in a dreamlike line which well represents the title of the album, with constant references to the constellations, the sky and the soul as if they were an entity of equal greatness : the lyrics of Moksha in fact (Moksha in many religions can be seen as the achievement of a condition of higher spiritual status) speaks of the various stages that the soul can reach, our inner self. All this, however, is always concealing a veiled criticism of the loss of this "spiritual quest". The final sentence of Les Forges manages to be a summary of the overall concept of the album:
“Ô Petite Humanité, ‘Oh little humanity,
Qui crève dans l'aube des jours, which explode at the dawn of day,
Tombées, comme une flamme silencieuse.... disappeared silent like a flame ...
As-tu dévoré tes rêves ?” Have you already devoured your dreams?’
One of the best albums I've heard in my life: definitely a work to listen to many times before assimilating all the hidden details.
Notes:
À l'âme enflammée, l'äme constellée... was released on July 9th, 2013 through Sepulchral Productions: Available in regular DCD version and in a double digipack, 6 panel version limited to 500 copies.
Tracklist:
Disc 1:
1. “L'aube” 04:37
2. “Les forges” 15:11
3. “Samsara” 01:52
4. “Igneus” 11:21
5. “Dil” 07:36
Disc 2:
1. “Moksha” 04:17
2. “Seizième prière” 11:26
3. “Sem” 01:45
4. “Une épitaphe de suie” 13:43
5.“Nadir” 08:45
Personnel:
Neptune - guitars, bass, violin
Icare - vocals, drums, cello
The two discs are composed in a symmetrical manner with five tracks on each disc and the duration of each track is roughly the same as that of the corresponding track on the other disc. It is easily recognizable as a Gris album but from a certain point of view they look like another band : they have assimilated various elements of post black metal and shoegaze, reduced the piano parts and increased the acoustic interludes and the vocals in the background.
The duo has definitely taken a step forward regarding the production, much clearer and cleaner than in the past. Some tracks (“L ' Aube”, “Samsara”, “Sem”) are practically intros to the following ones but they are absolutely not to be considered fillers , but instead they create the right atmosphere for the rest of the disc.
The lyrics are constructed in a very poetic way that fits perfectly the music: by reading them one can feel a sense of anger mixed with sadness that screams against the inexorable decline of mankind and his sense of spirituality, all this in a dreamlike line which well represents the title of the album, with constant references to the constellations, the sky and the soul as if they were an entity of equal greatness : the lyrics of Moksha in fact (Moksha in many religions can be seen as the achievement of a condition of higher spiritual status) speaks of the various stages that the soul can reach, our inner self. All this, however, is always concealing a veiled criticism of the loss of this "spiritual quest". The final sentence of Les Forges manages to be a summary of the overall concept of the album:
“Ô Petite Humanité, ‘Oh little humanity,
Qui crève dans l'aube des jours, which explode at the dawn of day,
Tombées, comme une flamme silencieuse.... disappeared silent like a flame ...
As-tu dévoré tes rêves ?” Have you already devoured your dreams?’
One of the best albums I've heard in my life: definitely a work to listen to many times before assimilating all the hidden details.
Notes:
À l'âme enflammée, l'äme constellée... was released on July 9th, 2013 through Sepulchral Productions: Available in regular DCD version and in a double digipack, 6 panel version limited to 500 copies.
Tracklist:
Disc 1:
1. “L'aube” 04:37
2. “Les forges” 15:11
3. “Samsara” 01:52
4. “Igneus” 11:21
5. “Dil” 07:36
Disc 2:
1. “Moksha” 04:17
2. “Seizième prière” 11:26
3. “Sem” 01:45
4. “Une épitaphe de suie” 13:43
5.“Nadir” 08:45
Personnel:
Neptune - guitars, bass, violin
Icare - vocals, drums, cello
Text by Aldebaran