Formed in 2005, and with an extensive back catalogue to their name, Celeste are a blackened post-hardcore band. Hailing from Lyon, France, and dealing in a gritty take on the genre that is every bit as unnerving as its cinematic equivalent, French Extremity, Celeste have followed up their 2022 effort, Assassine(s) with Epilogue(s) – a three-track exercise in bleak nihilism which, despite only lasting fourteen minutes, offers considerable range, leaving the listener battered and bruised by its conclusion.
Operating in a similar sonic theatre to Cult Of Luna’s darkly industrial Vertikal, Il Se Vide Lentement is a savage torrent of astringent guitar, punishing drums, and harrowing screams. Faster and more driven than the bleakest examples of the genre (see Khanate or Great Falls), Il Se Vide Lentement nevertheless paints a sonic portrait of a harsh existence, which only becomes more oppressive as the music is pushed into the background to allow Johan Girardeau’s rasp to further scrape against the synapses. The band waste no time in unleashing the follow up, Plisse Les Yeux Jusqu’au Sang, a blackened smear that carries an immense, yet unspecified, sense of threat. Yet, despite the fury of the band’s approach, like the best of black metal, a sense of melody never lurks too far from the surface, with the result that you’ll come back to these tracks again and again, slowly unlocking their secrets as you go. Having comprehensively rearranged the listener’s senses, Celeste round out the EP with the gorgeous, slow burning With Idle Hands. A schizophrenic piece that beguiles the listener with some beautiful harmonies before the band unleash a series of towering riffs that flood over the listener in waves. The perfect mix of beauty and brutality, it is the perfect ending to this all-too short and rather special EP.
While some bands are content to simply batter the listener into submission, Celeste’s approach is rather more subtle. While the opening pair of tracks will leave the unwary with a bloody nose, even there, a sense of melody lurks amidst the frozen riffs and piledriving beats. However, the band take things a step further with the magical, if tragic, beauty of With Idle Hands, a multifaceted piece of great depth and emotion, it elevates this EP from the exceptional to the essential. 9/10
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