49. Kill the Thrill - "Autophagie"

For the last decade, France has led the way when it comes to interesting connotations of metal. But Kill The Thrill has been around much longer that, in fact, they’ve been concocting a Francophile twist on industrial metal since the late eighties. They have never been particularly prolific,  this is only album number five and their first in 20 years.

Self-styled as aggressively hypnotic, this is a mournful soundscape replete with desolation and despair. There is a morose grandeur to the way that the album unfurls in waves of haunting majesty. Each of its nine tracks is wrapped in a funeral shroud of repentant sadness. It is bold and confident but also austere and withered. It is the type of record that buries into your soul. Magnificent in its melancholy.