Now, I have to say that in this genre, it makes a huge difference when you experience it live. On stage, these bands usually are a blast and in that aspect, French horde Aleska is no exception., I think Although their debut full-length will probably not appear in my day-to-day playlist, I would definitely go see them when they play anywhere near Antwerp. Besides, there is one song on this album on which the vocals add a lot to the sick and twisted atmosphere, But let's start from the beginning.
The album opens with the song 'Instaurer Le Vide', which initially sounds like an excellent post rock song, or post metal if you wish. After listening to the whole album, I feel like this is the luring-in song, the one that fans of the genre will like enough to buy the album. But then it starts, things start getting weirder, flashes of sheer insanity seem to appear and the intensity rises to often punishing levels. These levels seems to rise with each song. 'Leaves, Trees and Me' reaches a huge highlight but what happens next is simply destructive.
'Que-Reste-T-Il?' pulls out all the stops, grabbing influences from sludge, crust, hardcore and black metal to turn the song into a whirlpool of musical and vocal madness. This definitely is the most pummeling song on this selftitled debut. The madness returns on 'Our Illusion Is Creation', but in a different way as the music once again drives on these beautiful post rock guitars while the vocalist now seems to be lost completely in his dark, eerie and haunting world. Fans of bands like Isis, Envy, Cult Of Luna or AmenRa, this surely is something for you. Check it out!!!
Serge