Erlen Meyer’s debut may have been produced by Cult Of Luna’s Magnus Lindberg in Stockholm but the band themselves are based in Limoges, France, and they have the vocals to prove it. It is rare to hear a band growl, snarl, roar in the world’s most romantic language and it very much adds to the threatening nature of the recording.
The spoken word is particularly bleak and menacing on Agatha and Bec Et Ongles, and the fretwork driving Nuit is crushing and seemingly attacks from all sides.
The comparisons to Will Haven are certainly audible but the overall sound, while fierce and fronted with high-calibre roars, is rather more despairing and gloomy. Shortly before the recording of this album, the band’s drummer Romain Djoudi tragically died in a motorcycle accident, so it is little wonder the final outcome was so raw.
Shelsmusic is the home to other such dark, atmospheric acts as Mahumodo, *shels and Latitudes so this new signing and debut seems a suitably intense and worthy way to celebrate the label’s 10th anniversary this year.
