French Metal Friday: Agrion Splendens-Agrion Splendens

Braincrushing Records/A l'ombre de cette vie
2013

Released at the start of March, 2013, which was somewhere close to the range of two years after the group's formation by guitarists Vincent (ex-Jahiliyya) and Sally (ex-Barbarian Koala) - Limoges), "Agrion Splendens" came my way courtesy of fellow French act Ethersens. Soon after their initial formation, with (dual) voclaists Laurent (Wonderbar) and Mathieu (Eryn Non Dae), bassist Damien (ex-Nutcracker) and drummer Colin (drums) serving among the original line-up, the group went through some shake-ups. With Laurent Mora now fronting Ethersens and Yoan (ex-Disclosed Silence) taking over for the departed Colin this Toulouse, France-based band seem to be a point where they have gotten the who's who straightened out (line-up wise) with the actual "what" (as in what these French post-rockers like to lay down jam-wise) having fallen nicely into place as well. The likes of Isis, Cult Of Luna and Neurosis come to mind as "heavy and dirty riffs with powerful bass-lines" (their words) fill in the spaces of what amounts to a twisted tale of post-metal and post-hardcore rock-leanings. Every-bit as dark and foreboding as one could imagine given the key "buzzwords" (post-this and post-that with dirty riffs and clean/harsh vocal foreplay) Agrion Splendens, the band and this self-titled post-apocalyptic sound-scape, are worth a listen if ones tastes often times flow over to the not-so-sunny side of life!
http://agrionsplendens.bandcamp.com/