Review: Celeste - Misanthrope(s) (2009)
Celeste is another amazing band I heard about mainly through various ‘best of 2009′ lists. Hailing from France, these guys combine the raw energy of sludge and hardcore with the dark atmosphere of black metal. Their music is much heavier on the hardcore, but the vocals have a blackened maliciousness to them and the album’s production has a densely suffocating quality to it that separates Celeste from most bands of that genre. Imagine a darker version of Botch or Converge and you’ll be pretty close to Celeste’s sound.
I’m guessing that Celeste’s music a little too hardcore-sounding for some black metal fans to enjoy, but if you’re not one of those people who has to stick closely to a particular genre, these guys are well worth checking out. Their latest album Misanthrope(s) and their 2008 release Nihiliste(s) are both available as free downloads from their label’s site, which to me seems kind of bizarre given how good these guys are. One minor drawback is that both albums sound extremely similar, so despite how ridiculously good the music is it’s easy to get tired of it after awhile. But for the low, low price of free, how can you really complain?
