Year Of No Light

From France’s fertile art metal scene come Bordeaux’s Year of No Light, who weigh in with their unmatched debut, Nord. Using Neurosis merely as a launch pad, this bold quintet embark upon a sonic journey that leaves no Isis-coloured stone unturned. Simultaneously liberal and parsimonious, they paint in the broad strokes of the Ocean yet practice restraint like Overmars. "Traversée” reflects what made Godflesh so vital in the late ’90s, as it vacillates between Selfless-like fixity and Messiah-like infinity. "Mains de l’Empereur” follows a similar path, veering off near the end for a quieter acoustic place near Kansas’s "Dust in the Wind.” The ambient "Librium” allows a breathing space somewhere between Lull and Aube, while "Tu as Fait de Moi un Homme Meilleur” sports strains of tinny Big Country guitars. "Bouche de Vitus Bering” parallels Disembowelment, with gloomy, light-drinking chords and the mouldering death vocals of keyboardist Julien Perez. YONL balance perfect amounts of punctilio and laxity to generate one of the year’s most exhilarating records. (Crucial Blast)