Saturday 16 January 2021

ÂGE ⱡ TOTAL – ÂGE ⱡ TOTAL (Album Review)


Release date: February 05th 2021. Label: SOZA / COLLECTIF 5024. Format: Cassette/DD

ÂGE ⱡ TOTAL – ÂGE ⱡ TOTAL – Tracklisting

L’Armure
Carré
Metal
The Songbird

Review


ÂGE ⱡ TOTAL is a collaborative album featuring two of France’s most promising Doom/Sludge Metal bands GREYFELL and Endless Floods creating a beautifully made and equally emotional album. The album runs for 46 minutes spread across 4 songs with the record being a stunning journey of Post-Rock, Post-Metal, Sludge Metal, Doom Metal and is held together by hypnotic Psychedelic waves of Progressive Rock/Metal.

Both bands collaborated on all 4 songs for this album. This album is a work of genius with it’s different styles of music and how it embraces the LIGHT and DARK philosophy of Doom/Sludge Metal with uplifting musical passages and bleak down-tempo grooves that are spliced throughout the album.

Opening song – L’Armure – is more of an Ambient Doom style of music with the Post-Metal and Cinematic grooves being played quite slowly at first before exploding into a HEAVY WALL OF NOISE with superb vocals that have an uplifting feel to them. The Psychedelic Doomgaze fully takes over around the half-way mark and ÂGE ⱡ TOTAL becomes a more emotionally involved album with intense riffs and soaring vocal melodies leading the way. There is a very subtle Stoner Metal riff being played in the background but this still primarily a wild ride of Ambient Doom/Progressive Sludge sounds.

Second song – Carré – is a more experimental Drone/Doom based song running slightly less at over 4 minutes. The song is full of sonic glitches against a psychedelic backdrop with various soundbytes being merged into an almost nightmarish vision. The song has some brief vocal chants that elevate the song to a more gloomier level.

Third song – Metal – is where the album leaves the uplifting parts behind and becomes a much bleaker album with the heavier parts of the album starting with this track. The music feels quite remorseful with the Post-Rock/Post-Metal atmosphere leading the record further down the Doom/Sludge Metal rabbit-hole. This is offset by some wonderful vocal harmonies yet again and you can feel a “Type-O Negative” influence being added here with the vocals and lyrics painting a more realistic style of music.

Fourth song – The Songbird – runs for almost 17 minutes and is perhaps the most “Doom Metal” offering on the record. As ÂGE ⱡ TOTAL goes for the jugular here with it’s progressive mix of Doom, Sludge, Post-Metal and Psychedelic weirdness. It’s quite a cold and emotionally distant song to begin with and it doesn’t fully get going until around the 3rd minute when a top-notch Drone riff appears out of nowhere followed by almost angelic vocals. The orchestral and instrumental parts of this song is nothing short of magnificent.

ÂGE ⱡ TOTAL is a bold, unique and sombre listening experience which is helped along by outstanding production values. This is one of the best, if not the best collaborative album I’ve heard in years.

ÂGE ⱡ TOTAL is a phenomenal record and deserves a place in anyone’s record collection. I wouldn’t be surprised if this album ends up on a few “Albums Of The Year” list towards the end of the year. It’s already gained a spot on mine.

Awesome stuff….

Words by Steve Howe

Thanks to Purple Sage PR for the promo. ÂGE ⱡ TOTAL will be available to buy on Cassette/DD via SOZA / COLLECTIF 5024 from February 5th 2020.

GREYFELL Links:

Facebook / Bandcamp / Instagram

ENDLESS FLOOD Links

Facebook / Bandcamp