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

Greyfell - Horsepower (Album Review)

Release date: January 12th 2018. Label: Argonauta Records (CD) / Atypeek Music (Vinyl). Format: CD/DD/Vinyl

Horsepower – Tracklisting

The People's Temple

Horses

No Love

Spirit of the Bear

King of Xenophobia

Members

Clément

Thierry

Boubakar

Hugo

Review

Greyfell's new album - Horsepower - is a very dark and brooding album with the band creating an atmospheric take on the usual Doom/Stoner Metal sound. The album does have an Alt Rock/Alt Metal feel to it.

The first track - People's Temple - opens with a psychedelic drone sound that's merged with a heavy underlying FUZZ sound. Greyfell start playing a more aggressive Doom/Post-Rock/Stoner Metal style delivery with eerie vocals from Hugo. His vocals has an uncannily resemblance to Josh Homme at times but with a more demonic presence. The thumping bass line allows the music to flow more freely and the psychedelic overtones of the song are played throughout the whole album. The song becomes increasingly heavier as Greyfell finally find the right balance of LIGHT and DARK gloomy moments.

Second track - Horses - is a loud distorted Drone/Stoner Rock opus that for the most part works really well. However there are a few rough parts where the whole feel of the album becomes bogged down by too many unnecessary sound effects. Though when the band focus on the riffs, the song becomes a more exciting song to listen to. The thing I enjoyed most about this album is the gloomy and psychedelic aspects of the album. As the whole tone and mood of the album becomes bleaker.

Third track - No Love is a gloomy post-metal offering that sees Greyfell relishing in creating a heavy distorted psychedelic stoner metal sound with creepy lyrics to match. The organs/keyboards being played in the background offer a not so subtle Occult Rock/Doom Metal atmosphere. This is perhaps the best song on the album with the song building up to a heavy and loud finish that leaves you under Greyfell's spell.

Fourth track - Spirit Of The Bear - is a slow-burning song with the intriguing bass line keep the mood sparse and fresh. The band takes their time on this song as they have a lot of ground to cover with the almost nine minute running time. Distorted psychedelic sounds are the focus yet again. As Greyfell perhaps play the heaviest sounds on the album with this song. The instrumental work is simply exquisite with the band sounding more and more like a gloomier early-era Queens Of The Stone Age. I mean that as a huge compliment. The organs offer a more post-doom/post-rock with the band creating a more highly atmospheric and apocalyptic mood compared to the other songs on the album. The vocals become more Sludge based as the harsh growls from Hugo have a slightly depressing feel to them.

The final track - King Of Xenophobia - carries on the depressing psychedelic doom based vibe. This is perhaps the angriest song on the album as the dark lyrical content gives Greyfell licence to fully unleash their anger with surprising results. Greyfell have delivered the goods with Horsepower. It maybe too complex and dark for the casual Doom/Stoner Metal listener. However for the more experienced Doom/Stoner Metal fan, Horsepower is an album that will offer a high amount of thrills and spills with a few hidden surprises along the way.

Words by Steve Howe

Thanks to Barbara at NeeCee Agency and Magnus at Creative Eclipse PR for the promo. Horsepower will be available to buy on CD via Argonauta Records and Vinyl via Atypeek Records from Jan 12^th 2018.

Links:

Facebook | BandCamp