TorqueZine: November 2013

CELESTE – ANIMALE(S)

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 double album. Unsurprisingly, the result of this long process is an opus which is so loaded and dense that it can barely 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 indispensable for a comprehensive and complete experience of this double 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 TALVIHORROS -- also on Denovali Records - and the composers and sound designers Sabrina Duval and Jean Charles Bastion.

CELESTE truly managed to finish this double 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.

Stream: www.denovali.com/celeste
Download: www.denovali.com/mp3shop
Facebook: www.facebook.com/celesteband

Vinyl – 2xLP:
::: thick gatefold sleeves + thick printed inner sleeves + insert; 180g vinyl
::: download code
::: limited picture disc edition (200 pieces): 25.00 euro
::: limited ultraclear/ black edition (400 pieces): 22.00 euro
::: regular edition (black): 19.50 euro

2xCd:
::: nice digipak
::: price: 16.00 Euro

(((03)))

Howard Duane Allman (11.20.46 – 10.29.71)

“ I will take love wherever I find it and offer it to everyone who will take it.., seek knowledge from those wiser than me and try to teach those who wish to learn from me. ”

(((03)))

SUNN O))) vs. ULVER

SUNN O)))’s most recent studio album, 2009’s Monoliths and Dimensions, and ULVER’s 2013 album, Messe I.X-VI.X, found both evolving and longstanding groups venturing into the world of acoustic arrangement and contemporary orchestration. Besides arriving at this seeming parallel in vision, the pair’s long standing camaraderie was initiated during SUNN O)))’s 2003’s White1 sessions with the track “CutWOODED” which was produced by ULVER, in tribute to deceased film director Ed Wood.

ULVER’s decision to emerge from the shadows into live performance, in 2009, unveiled a new facet of showmanship and presentation which took their audiences to an unforeseen level. SUNN O)))’s presence has continuously been felt — whether in the prospect of their hundreds of legendary live concerts, the reissue of out-of-print albums in devotion to their loyal fanbase, or the recent unveiling of their new website — and the anticipation of something new was heightened beyond belief recently when the label posted online the words, “SUNN O))) & ULVER 2014″.

Yes. At long last they have come together for a more developed collaborative work.

Today, it comes with great pleasure to confirm that these words, SUNN O))) and ULVER, together, represent an astonishing yet somehow totally tenable matrimony of these two earthshakingly powerful forces, coming together like tectonic plates. The result of this union is a three-track recording entitled Terrestrials; a trio of movements which flow like magma beneath the Earth’s crust, sonically uninhibited, unpredictably cosmic, haunting and stirring, yet simultaneously ceremonious and beautiful.

Southern Lord shall release Terrestrials in February 2014. Over the course of the next month we shall be revealing the story of how this alliance and recording came to be, revealing the insight of the musicians involved, attempting to answer some of the burning questions which we have, for now, left hanging in the air.

(o3:EsC)