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Having released their self-titled debut album of progressive noise rock in 2022, French power trio CRATOPHANE returns to the scene with their brilliant blend of post-metal, heavy psych, noise rock and progressive, a sound that has previously earned them comparisons to the likes of SHELLAC, PELICAN, MAGMA, and CARBONIZED.
Their new album, “Exode” is once again an entirely instrumental work. Thanks to a multifaceted yet consistent style and a songwriting skill that has further refined in recent years, CRATOPHANE’s music is a sonic journey full of surprises. “These are compositions that fall into the realm of a kind of instrumental, psychedelic, and cosmic prog metal,” the band says, “in a spirit somewhere between BLIND IDIOT GOD and PELICAN, but played by fans of VOIVOD and ALUK TODOLO, with a mix of zeuhl-style melodies and many very dissonant, even noisy passages. In other words, a sort of RUSSIAN CIRCLES on LSD, trapped in an inhospitable parallel dimension.”
The album is mainly inspired by the worlds of science fiction comics by Moebius, Druillet, Enki Bilal, Frederik Peeters, Jeff Lemire and François Schuiten, among the others, of which CRATOPHANE’s music therefore aspires to be a soundtrack. Enriched by a wonderful cover taken from the graphic novel “Negalyod” by Vincent Perriot, “Exode” is a blend of the band’s love of weird graphic sci-fi and the fascination with stories that can only be told through compelling and visionary compositions.
FFO: Russian Circles, Pelican, Shellac, Kyuss, Aluk Todolo, Magma
