Band:	Chaos Echœs
Album:	Mouvement
Style:	Avantgarde metal, Death doom metal
Release date:	February 2018

01. Embodied By Perfidious Curls In The Innervated Flux
02. As An Embraceable Magma Leading The Subliminal
03. Surrounded And Amazed By These Unplumbed Abysses Of The Inverted Sea
04. Through Kaleidoscopic Haze Of Unexpected Extents
05. Shine On, Obsidian! Ego! Ego! Echo Back To The Yearning Of The Self!
06. Alas! Here Is The Feebles' Assent, Exalted By Your Mouth Full Of Flies

Ah yes, the mighty France. The reputation this country has acquired as something of a Mecca for artistic experimentation is no less deserved today than it was in the time of André Breton and the early surrealists. In the realm of metal, one band in particular has risen recently that really capitalizes upon the legacy of France as a land of transgressive art unlike any other. I am talking, of course, about Chaos Echœs.

Multifaceted. That's the only word that really describes the nature of Chaos Echœs with any sort of accuracy. Ever in a state of flux, with a penchant for genre mixing and improvisation, the only thing that can ever really be expected out of this group is the unexpected itself. Here on Mouvement, the band's second full length album, listeners will notice right from the opening track that things are a lot more violent, uptempo, and abrasive than on previous efforts. Whatever the reasoning behind this may have been (and with these shapeshifters it's likely there was no reason at all), here Chaos Echœs have definitely upped the overall intensity of their puzzling combination of death, black and doom metal. Riffs oozing of influence from all three snake their way around each other in confounding yet strangely hypnotizing combinations, while a dazzling rhythm section lays down the foundational pounding in similarly odd fashion (the drum and bass techniques on the fourth track are especially awe inspiring).

While still unquestionably true to the spirit of their earlier material, Mouvement also feels refreshingly "new" for displaying a newfound sense of balance Chaos Echœs seem to have fond between their harsher elements and their more meditative, ritualistic ones. It's no secret that these musicians have a knack for crafting shamanic, droney ambient dreamscapes in addition to their more frantic barrages (see last year's Unfathomable EP or some of the "Interzone" tracks of earlier). But previously these shamanic moments came much more as their own separate tracks, interludes of sorts within the more dominant aggression. Mouvement changes the game here considerably, seeing the two intermingling with each other in a much more cohesive type of synthesis. The second track here is a perfect example: it's slower and brings out the trance vibes in heavier doses, but it's still interlaced with crushing, doomy riffs, cymbal smashing, and a slowly creeping black metal presence as well.

Whether or not Chaos Echœs went into the composition of Mouvement with much of an advance plan in mind is a mystery. If we take the improvisational nature of the band into account, the more aggressive nature of this album could simply be owed to frontman Stefan Thanneur being upset about stubbing his toe while waking up the morning of recording. Or perhaps all band members were pissed because they missed the bus to the recording studio and ended up behind schedule. Whatever the case, it's clear with Mouvement that Chaos Echœs have learned from their past efforts, both more relaxed and unrestrained, and have channeled these two aspects of their personality together in ways listeners truly cannot say they heard before. Only time will tell what these routine rule breakers have up their sleeves from here, but at this point I think it's safe to say that whatever dish is served will be one hell of a meal.

Early AOTY contender for sure. Go get floored.