55. Alcest - "Les Chants De L'Aurore"

Let’s stay with grand cathedrals of sound. Alcest are an utterly unique quality. They long ago drifted away from their black metal roots, to reside in a corner of the metal universe that is utterly their own. What they do is distinctly beautiful. It purges all the hate and darkness from our music and rebirths it as something tender, delicate, and utterly uplifting.

“Les Chants de l'Aurore” (translates as The Songs of Dawn) has a heavenly and healing feel to it. It is certainly the most positive and celebratory record that they have produced. It is euphoric and life-affirming in the way it builds in spiritual and celestial waves. It is beautiful and sumptuous, tumbling forward in waves of rapture and bliss. Sunshine bottled.