French Prog? Sacre Bleu!

In the last year I've come upon a French progressive rock band called Alcest. Not only are they French but they sing in French. So for all I know they are chanting hymns to Satan. Granted I took two years of French but it's enough to get me to navigate (poorly) the Parisian subway but not rock lyrics.

Check this track out:

This is a promo clip for the first cut off their latest record. The song is called "Autre Temps." The album is called Les Voyages D L'Ame. Very roughly translated to "other times" and "Voyage of the Soul."

This is really beautiful music. Some of the other tracks have the scream-vocal-thing going on, but not often. This song has the things I like best about progressive music. It's got a great melody, it's complex but not show-offy, it's pretty but it rocks. The songs on the record sound like a voyage of the soul. It's uplifting and touching and exceptionally good.

Sadly, I missed them when they came to town a couple months ago. They played DC the night my band had practice right before our first gig. It's disappointing to have missed their show but it's much more gratifying to know my band had such a great show of our own.