Ever since Alcest’s 2005 Le Secret, bandleader Neige’s fascination for shoegaze, dream pop, and post rock have been no secret. Throughout their career, they had fused elements of those sounds with traditional black metal to make something truly special.
But on 2014’s Shelter, they leaned heavy on the gentler side of their sonic palette.
For all of its simplicity, there’s something about punk that’s just slightly inaccessible.
If it keeps too close to the formula, it’s derivative. If it strays too far, or even if it has the right sonics but the wrong attitude, it’s a sell out.
Even if a band captures all of the fury and wrath of punk live, capturing that energy on record is as difficult capturing lightning in a jar.
But nobody must have told METZ.
The music world is filled with artists so prolific that it’s almost impossible to keep up with everything they do. But many of these same artists are either so experimental or so inconsistent that it’s almost impossible to know which albums to dive into and which to skip.
Plumbing the depth of their discographies to know which releases are worthwhile and which aren’t worth the time is such an ordeal that you might as well explore in the inside of a black hole instead.
But I’ve been down a few black holes myself, and I have lived to tell the tale. And today, I’ve come to give you some pointers on what discographies are worth plumbing and which are not.
Black metal has been undergoing a bit of a revolution in the last few years. Bands like Deafheaven, Wolves in the Throne Room, and Lantlôs have been augmenting their metal chops with elements of post rock and shoegaze. It’s a simple formula, but surprisingly effective.
But at the forefront of the “blackgaze” movement is a French group called Alcest, who wrote much of the blueprint on their breakthrough record Écailles de lune.
I was first introduced to Metavari as a post rock band (by a friend of mine who later joined the line up). They played the same intricate, introspective instrumental music as bands like Collection of Colonies of Bees, Do Make Say Think, and The Album Leaf.
And when my band was booked alongside them for analecta‘s album release show, that’s what we went in expecting. But somewhere along the road, bandleader Nate Utesch transitioned the project into a dreamy synth pop. Yet when paired with their post rock sensibilities, they created something incredibly special.
If you picked up Men At Work’s sophomore album Cargo looking for anything like their smash novelty hit “Down Under,” you’d be sorely disappointed.
Of course, the single wasn’t a great representation of Business As Usual either, but Cargo separates itself even further.
A hit single can be a huge boon for a new band. It can launch their career like a jet engine, putting them in front of a huge audience.
But it can also be an albatross, painting listeners’ perception of your work. Perhaps there’s no greater example of this curse than Men At Work’s “Down Under,” which hit number one in a handful of countries around the world—despite being a poor representation of their debut album.
When my wife and I started dating, we went through that phase every new couple goes through where you share mix CDs back and forth.
One of the mixes that she gave me included “Brand New Key,” a bouncing, Honky-Tonking raucous track led by Melanie’s powerful voice and a mischievous innuendo (the key is a…you know).
I found this record in a dollar bin years ago, and haven’t listened to it until now. And with that single as my only preview, I’m a bit surprised.
I’m a big fan of dream pop and shoegaze. Bands like Beach House, Cocteau Twins, Slowdive, and My Bloody Valentine.
And as I’ve read more about the pioneers of those genres, I am always, always surprised to see Mazzy Star on that list.