Founded amidst the remote forests of the French Alps in 2004, Aldaaron (the long-time project of Ioldar) return with their fourth full-length album Majestic Heights, Melancholic Depths – four of the songs somewhat inspired by Steven Erikson’s Malazan Book of the Fallen. Developing the worlds created on their third album, 2022’s Arcane Mountain Cult (the title of which speaks of a secret, hidden and forgotten religious order, whose members worship a mountain), Aldaaron once again display their prowess in using enticing combinations of intense sonic assaults and eerie, tranquil moments. Self-described as epic, melancholic and fierce black metal, Majestic Heights, Melancholic Depths certainly encapsulates these elements within its vast musical landscape and combination of French and English lyrics.
Opening with Bannières de nuit (Banners of Night), the album dives immediately into its immersive journey and while the classic motifs of black metal are obvious, they are delivered with conviction and clarity. For music of this kind, the vocal production is, for the most part, crisp despite the odd moment when the layers of guitars threaten to overpower everything else. However, the music is never in danger of becoming too mellifluous or losing its anger.
Setting the scene, in which a glacial cold reigns, Bannières de nuit introduces the untamed, wild nature that resides in this mountainous universe. Corbeaux ! Grands Corbeaux ! / Vos nuées grondantes s’abattent / En de sifflants tourments / Surgis de nulle part Faites voler le jour en éclats / Vos becs s’ouvrent avec fracas / Déversant le désarroi (Crows! Great Ravens! / Your roaring clouds fall / In hissing torment / Out of nowhere shatter the day / Your beaks open with a crash / Spilling out confusion).
Across its length, Majestic Heights, Melancholic Depths is thoughtfully structured. Three shorter atmospheric joining pieces (Rôdeur des sommets (Summit Prowler), Voyageur des cimes (Peak Voyager) and La bataille approche (The Battle is Coming)) allow the album space to breathe, while simultaneously gloriously illustrating the desolate and majestic tale that dwells deep within Ioldar’s mind: the vast majority of humanity has disappeared, leaving room for a handful of rare individuals leading an eremitic existence.
Third track Monti Vagus further portrays these remote lands of which solitude is the sovereign. Yet within this pure landscape, those few who have chosen to withdraw from the modern world survive. Everyone thinks I'm lost and forgotten / I am the sole survivor of a dead world / From the top of my fortress I reign / On the savage conquerors of the high plains / Who guard with ferocity and pride / My kingdom of night, frost and oblivion. Monti Vagus, which incorporates death-doom aspects, allows the listener to saturate themselves further within the atmospheric terrain. It is a powerful track and Ioldar (who plays every instrument on the album – guitar solos aside, which are once again handled by Voldr) has found a more even and balanced approach to the production of the guitar solos this time and the solos do not completely overshadow everything as they did at times on Arcane Mountain Cult.
Building on the acoustic interlude Voyageur des cimes (Peak Voyager), Chroniques des jours d'alors (Chronicles of the Days of Then) begins in a similar style before the pounding guitars return less than a minute into the song. Repeating the same lyrics (first in English, then in French), this epic also contains some of the most spine-tingling moments within the main songs, as a central section accompanied by howling winds strips backs the guitars and builds gradually again to the main riff. Black and silver hovered in the night sky / The death cry of a demon was heard / On the rooftops on a night of blood As the hundred arms of a master / Mislaid a hundred daggers against the darkness. As the main riff continues towards the end of the track, choral-type voices add further regal splendour to the song.
As La battaillle approche (The Battle Is Coming) - complete with further cawing of crows – segues into Les tambours et le fer (Drums and Iron), the intensity is raised once again and those humans who have chosen to live with nature and its mysteries, dedicating themselves to contemplation and spirituality, reflect on the world in which they now find themselves. Sons and brothers / Ghost warriors in rows / On the last eroded landmark at dusk / Yet another soldier with a brave heart / Transformed into hardened steel.
Ioldar creates a world where time seems to slow down and life is guided by the rhythms of seasons and elements. Communion with nature (both living creatures and the inanimate environment) in an unfiltered manner is a key theme of the album both musically and lyrically. Ces impassibles cénotaphes / Eternellement fidèles à la terre / Ces imposants piliers toujours debout / Troublent l’échappée glacée de mon esprit (These impassive cenotaphs / Eternally faithful to the earth / These imposing pillars still standing / Disturb the icy escape of my mind) snarls Ioldar on Impassibles cénotaphes (Impassive Cenotaphs) as the two-minute-long introduction comes to its conclusion. The drumming on the album sits behind the vocals and guitars and even on the heaviest tracks is only occasionally too dominating.
Concluding with an interesting cover of Dawn’s The Knell and the World, Aldaaron may not attempt to re-shape the tropes of atmospheric black metal or even threaten to dent it with Majestic Heights, Melancholic Depths but they have produced an album which will certainly appeal to fans of this genre as there is much to be discovered and enjoyed through the lyrics and pictures that are created through their musical constructs. The artwork within the album (each song being illustrated by Ioldar) is exceptional and adds to the listener’s overall interpretation.
Join the solitude….
Majestic Heights, Melancholic Depths is released on 20th October 2023. You can visit the band's website here: https://aldaaron.com/
Written: 26th September 2023
Watch an album teaser video and the video for Impassibles cénotaphes (Impassive Cenotaphs) below.
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