Band: Celeste
Album: Animale(s)
Label: Denovali
Year: 2013
Tracklist
01. Laissé pour compte comme un bâtard
02. Au pied d'une bicoque peu séduisante
03. Sans crainte de s'avouer un jour naufragée
04. (X)
05. Tes âmes soeurs immaculées
06. Dans ta salive, sur sa peau
07. D'errances en inimitiés
08. Cette silhouette paumée et délabrée qui sanglote et meurt
09. Empreinte d'érotisme
10. (Y)
11. Serrés comme son coeur lacéré
12. Outro
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Expressionistic, sophisticated, evolved, overflowing, pitch-black. Just a few words, a desperate attempt to properly approach ANIMALE(S), the fifth full-length record of the French combo CELESTE from Lyon. While their former albums PESSIMISTE(S) (2006), NIHILISTE(S) (2008), MISANTHROPE(S) (2009) and MORTE(S) NEE(S) (2010) have all been finished in a few months, it took them all the last three years to craft this concept album. Unsurprisingly, the result of this long process is an opus which is so loaded and dense that it can bearly withstand its inner pressure.
The concept behind ANIMALE(S) is the bleak story of a boy and a girl, a kind of love story with a tragic ending. A story about how tough youth can be if parents discard their responsibilities. For once in metal-oriented music, a closer look at artwork and lyrics gives a new dimension to a record and is indispensible for a comprehensive and complete experience of this album.
Musically, ANIMALE(S) sees CELESTE developing their metal and hardcore oriented sound in different directions. Their music was always characterised by the interaction of monumental melodies, dark riffs, violent drums and expressive lyrics, but on the new album all these ingrediences are more expressed. The last three years' time has carved out the contrasts in Celeste's music like a stream carves out a rugged canyon. The melodies are more melodic, but also more sparse. Many parts are much darker and more noisy than the past albums. The lyrics are as savage as they can be without being vulgar. At the same time, ANIMALE(S) features exceptional collaborations with artists such as the experimental musician Ben Chatwin from TALVHORROS -- also on Denovali Records - and the composers and sound designers Sabrina Duval and Jean Charles Bastion.
CELESTE truly managed to finish this album at the right moment, before the amount of concept, composition and artistic skill would have been too much for a single album. Exactly for this reason, ANIMALE(S) is a unique piece of art, a coherent album which does not allow for anything to be added without destroying it. Simply put, it is just perfect.