Name: Spiritual Instinct
Brand: Alcest

Bonus disc

Bonus disc: No

Catalogue number

0727361509606

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Colour

Colour details

Discogs ID

Format multiplier

Download code

Download code: No

Rough Trade Exclusive

Rough Trade Exclusive: No

Extended format

Extended format: No

Format detail

Limited Digipack in O-Card.

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Format Music GB

Limited edition

Release date

2019-10-25

Signed copies

Signed copies: No

Supplier GB

Warner Music Group

Tax rate GB

Standard:20

UPC / Barcode

Total Cap

1 / CD / Extended format: No / Rough Trade Exclusive: No / Signed copies: No

0727361509613

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Black

180 Gram Vinyl.

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1 / Extended format: No / LP / Rough Trade Exclusive: No / Signed copies: No / black

Artist

Alcest

Genre GB

Metal

Label GB

Nuclear Blast

Albums of the Year - 2019

Alcest is a French band created by Neige in early 2000. Originally a solo project, it soon evolved into a full-fledged band with the addition of *a1900153* on bass and *a863841* on lead guitar. While starting out as raw black metal, Alcest's sound quickly incorporated post-rock and shoegaze influences, exploring more intimate themes.

The band's name, chosen solely for its noble ethereal sound, holds no specific meaning. Neige couldn't imagine any other name that would better fit the pronunciation ("Al-sest") and essence of their music.

Similar Artists: Les Discrets, Lantlôs, Amesoeurs, Fen, Agalloch, Wolves In The Throne Room, Drudkh, Sólstafir, Woods Of Ypres,
Ulver,
Heretoir,
An Autumn for Crippled Children,
Blut Aus Nord,
Woods of Desolation,
ColdWorld,
Panopticon,
Lustre,
Summoning,
Empyrium,
Winterfylleth

Nuclear Blast is a German independent label that specializes in metal and related music styles. Founded in 1987 by Markus Staiger, the label has become a prominent force in the metal industry. With their headquarters located in Donzdorf, Germany, Nuclear Blast Europe serves as a label, mailorder service, wholesale distributor, fulfillment service, and distribution center for several labels across Europe. In addition to their European presence, Nuclear Blast America operates as a US company with similar business tasks in collaboration with Century Media. They also have a South American branch working alongside Century Media.

A typical Nuclear Blast catalogue number follows the format "NB XXXX-F", where F represents the format of the release. This can vary but generally includes limited first editions (such as Digipak or O-Card) for both CD and DVD (-0), LPs or other vinyl formats (-1), jewelcase CDs or promo CDs/DVDs (-2), video tapes or tapes (-3/-4), box sets or limited mailorder editions with bonus CDs/DVDs (-5), some vinyl 7”s (-7), shape CDs (-8), and picture vinyls (-9). Earlier releases may only have three digits.

With an extensive catalog of metal music and an authoritative presence in the industry, Nuclear Blast continues to be a leading label for fans of heavy music

Blackgaze pioneers Alcest dive back into metal territories without losing any of their ethereal powers. "Spiritual Instinct" might be their most balanced full-length to date, and sees the band reach for breathtaking new heights in a genre they started defining nearly 20 years ago.

On their sixth album and first for Nuclear Blast, both metal and shoegaze parts of Alcest’s DNA seem to coexist as harmoniously as ever, allowing them to go further in both directions.

The influence of the second wave of Scandinavian black metal rarely appeared so undiluted in their music. And the amount of astonishing riffs and cascades of blast beats here never overshadows an impeccable songwriting that has all the brilliance of the early days of Ride and radiates with the same mysterious halo that can be heard on the Cocteau Twins’ work.

FFO : Darkthrone, Slowdive, Chelsea Wolfe, Mogwai, Immortal, Sigur Rós

For principal songwriter and frontman Neige, Alcest has always been a gateway to the otherworldly, a means of exploring his spirituality. An elemental two-piece, completed by long-serving drummer and creative confidante Winterhalter, their sixth album Spiritual Instinct finds Neige at his most personal. “This time I had something urgent to put on the table,” he explains. “It is a very cathartic record- something needed to get out of me. It’s darker than usual, and heavier.”

Written in bursts both during and after a prolonged period of touring in support of 2016’s hugely successful Kodama, the sense of urgency Neige speaks of manifests in a record full of spontaneity, of immediate impact- be that in the breath-taking pace of Les Jardin De Minuit’s tempo changes, or Sapphire’s sun-kissed harmonies over an impermeable back beat, one thing Spiritual Instinct has is riffs, an acknowledgement and celebration of the black metal foundations that anchor their uplifting post-metal.

The tension at the record’s vital core comes from Neige facing the darker aspects of his personality and fighting to reconnect with his spiritual essence, to conquer adversity and grow. The inner conflict and desire for self-betterment fuels the record’s penultimate track Le Miroir, by turns gnashing and baleful, but as ever with Alcest, beautifully gilded and fueled by grace. Spiritual Instinct may well articulate Neige’s battle with existential anxiety, but he is keen to impress that at the core of his music is empowerment, of finding a path through darkness and towards the light.

Spiritual Instinct

Music GB

Buy Alcest - Spiritual Instinct (Vinyl, CD) now from Rough Trade - independent purveyors of great music, since 1976.