It's my personal opinion that Alcest is at their best when they go nearly 50/50 with the black metal/shoegaze dynamic. To completely drop the black metal on the newest record and not really add anything new to the formula is more of a step backward to be honest. While the new album certainly isn't bad, it just leaves me thinking that Alcest have grown stale. Hopefully the new Les Discrets album coming out this year will be a step forward for the sound and not a jog-in-place or step back.
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