Regarde les Hommes Tomber – Ascension (Review)

This is the third album from French post-black metallers Regarde les Hommes Tomber.

Regarde les Hommes Tomber play post-black metal that takes a forward-thinking approach to its content. Blending in elements of sludge and minor aspects of death metal, the band’s music is an atmospheric and modern take on blackened art.

Ascension is textured and layered with gems that are ripe for discovery across multiple spins. Tasteful blackened melodies and immersive atmospheric aggression is blended with hypnotic, ritualistic auras to produce songs that easily engage. The music has epic components, and you can hear the influence of the atmospheric black metal style. The songwriting favours depth over instant-appeal, and it’s clear that time and effort has gone into the structuring and arrangement of the songs.

The vocals are largely of a gruff, sermonising style, mixed in with a diversity of howls and screams. Other styles appear in places, backing up the main vocals with a variety of deliveries, including clean singing and spoken word. The vocals are performed with obvious passion and enthusiasm, and fit well with the occult feeling of the music.

Ascension is a very strong album from a very capable band. Make sure you check this out.