Alcest- Souvenirs D'un Autre Monde

Alcest are a funny band. They seem to get lumped in with the black metal crowd pretty often, but Souvenirs reminds me of nothing so much as if an emo band decided to make a "black metal" (quotes included) record. Jimmy Eat Despair, perhaps. The chord changes and melody lines over pedal-chord guitar work that make up practically every track simply scream late-90's emo band. The track "Ciel Errant" even verges on (shudder, gag) Goo Goo Dolls territory, for Christ's sake.

So what am I saying, here? Souvenirs is intensely melodic, more akin to an amped-up Death Cab For Cutie than, say, Nachtmystium. It's quite pretty, with languid, shoegazey vocals floating above a haze of alternately distorted and chiming guitars and the afforementioned echoey drums. Recording quality's good, and although most tracks clock over 7 minutes long, they don't overstay their welcome (aside from the previously-mentioned "Ciel Errant"). Album closer "Tir Nan Og" has a folksier, ren-faire feel to it that's an interesting change of pace and perhaps another hint at Alcest's blackened heritage.

Still, I just can't not hear Jimmy Eat World all over this record. Which I guess would be good, if I didn't think that band was a pile of festering shit. Alcest would benefit, perhaps, by tuning down. It's certainly personal bias, but these guitar lines would sound a lot more rokk and a lot less whine if they were a couple whole steps down the fretboard (just as the difference between recent Isis and classic Tool is largely a matter of drop-B instead of drop-D tuning).

Is it worth a listen? Absolutely. It's without question a pretty record, and the songs are strong. I just imagine I'd enjoy it a lot more if emo had never existed. Then again, isn't that the case with everything?