I’m an absolute sucker for blackgaze.

On paper, it might seem like black metal, post rock, and shoegaze are a strange mixture. The three genres share a fascination with ambient textures and heart-rending emotion, but they take wildly different paths to get there.

Blackgaze splits the difference, and manages to capture every good bit of each—and then some.In the pantheon of blackgaze, there are a few essential groups. California’s Deafheaven is one. Germany’s Lantlôs is another. But perhaps the most significant group blackgaze is the French band Alcest, whose fingers stretch all across the European metal scene.

For instance: Alcest bandleader Neige was a member of the melodic black metal group Phest with Fursy Teyssier, who is the creative force behind Les Discrets. The two were also in a group called Amesoeurs, alongside Alcest drummer Winterhalter (metal nickname is metal).

Winterhalter plays drums on this record. Neige was once conscripted as Les Discrets’ live bassist.

With that information, you might expect Ariettes Oubliées (“Forgotten Arias”) to sound like an Alcest record. And it does. But that’s not a bad thing at all. In fact, if you were to tell me that band is just a shameless Alcest ripoff, I would likely rush to listen to it.

But Ariettes Oubliées is not just a shameless Alcest ripoff. Les Discrets stands on their own, even if they do share members and ethos.

Fursy Teyssier originally founded Les Discrets as a companion to his visual art, which accompanies this record. His paintings are dark, with isolated points of light. There is a romanticism that evokes the Victorian era. His characters are isolated and bereft, yet hopeful.

As a composer, his music explores the same themes present in the artwork. Clean vocals cut through a thick wall of distorted guitar noise. Dulcimers and tambourines are juxtaposed against blast beats and shredded tremolo guitars. Many of the songs are in a 6/8 meter, which makes the black metal conventions more somber than aggressive.

But Ariettes Oubliées is not a necessarily a somber record. There is a sadness to it, certainly. But there is also great triumph. There are moments of exuberance that are just achingly beautiful. Swells of major chords and vocal harmonies that betray an optimism that is world-weary but not jaded. The lyrics are in French, but they evoke a bittersweet hope that can be plainly understood.

And yes, you could say the same about just about any Alcest record. But if you ask me, any record that comes anywhere close to capturing the same mood as Alcest is a must-have. And Ariettes Oubliées does just that, and more.