I didn't even listened to this one, actually. Should I?
Perhaps no, judging by the comments here.. I listened to the last one and was pretty disappointed. Not that I don't like shoegaze, I do, but I know Alcest by what they did on their first album. If I wanted to hear shoegaze there are plenty more bands I can listen to, but that album had pretty unique sound...
Well, they probably won't get back to making that kind of music anymore.. ):

Written by Troy Killjoy on 22.01.2014 at 23:59

One is a matter of tastes, the other is a matter of smell - bad, bad smell...

One likes the smell of gasoline at the station when refueling, another clog the nose. One likes his posts on Facebook, another likes to cook scrambled eggs on a smartphone. I don't like brushing teeth. Smell is a matter of choice

Perfection!

I haven't heard the album yet, but I just found this on the rollingstones website.

Neige about fans: "They don't understand why a band that could be metal before would change to something else. People think they know better than me what Alcest is. It's crazy."

I quite agree, as long as the music is good and creative, does the genre really matter?

Written by The Melting Snow on 24.01.2014 at 20:55

as long as the music is good and creative, does the genre really matter?

This is a very interesting question.

Can't agree with Neige, he's making the wrong assumptions. Most metal fans do understand why I band can changes to something else, they just think it was better before. Which is the case with Alcest. It has nothing to do with knowing what Alcest is....
And yeah, genre doesn't matter as long as the music is good and creative. Problem is, Shelter is not good nor creative.

Yea. I don't mind not-metal shit by Neige, if the songwriting quality would be something interesting.

I will not speak for others, because I don't know if the fans understand the change or not. Certainly opinions are very divided, and there is a lot of discrepancies. I agree with you guys that "Shelter" is nothing revolutionary. Neige (in my opinion) has not revolutionized his musicianship, but, rather he selected and emphasized what is the most important in Alcest music - atmosphere. Though (more or less) bm influences, Alcest never been "extreme band" (anyway, in my opinion). This is not the point here. And maybe that's what meant Neige in his statement about "what Alcest is".

This is a significant, but it is not a drastic change and I think that anyone who closely follow to the band's steps could predict this direction. Sure, excess gentle tones and clear singing may result in fatigue or irritate (Opale). But for me, the main element of interest here is the specific "Alcested atmosphere", which (despite technical changes and general excessively sweet) still deserves attention.

Written by The Melting Snow on 24.01.2014 at 20:55

as long as the music is good and creative, does the genre really matter?

Of course not. But a lot of people complain about the backlash against Shelter because they say metalheads are too narrow-minded about genres. That could be true for some, but not for me - my favourite artists are Current 93, Dead Can Dance, Coil, Swans etc. and they have nothing to do with metal.

One of the main reasons I dislike Shelter is that it's utterly useless. I don't need another trite, by-the-numbers dream-pop/post-rock album in 2014. I'd rather listen to Cocteau Twins, Slowdive or Sigur Ròs, they did the same thing ten times better decades ago. And with better vocals, too. But I can see why one might like this album: it's pretty background music after all, and I certainly wouldn't call it unpleasant or ugly; just formulaic as hell, innocuous and (as I said) completely unnecessary.

"But Neige just wanted to pay tribute to his favourite bands; let him be!"
Okay, then. Let's suppose it's just a transitional work. In that case, I'm really curious to see what he plans to achieve in his future albums.

Very lackluster. None of that great sound of previous albums.

Definitely not gonna play it again. I'm a great fan of Post-rock/Shoegaze/Ambient but as far as it goes, Shelter definitely sounds like a watered-down mediocre rushed album to me.

I honestly can't see what's so bad about this.

This is far from a masterpiece, but it's far from bad as well. Just a nice relaxing album. However, when I want a nice relaxing album, I can always listen to Alcest's debut, which is still much better than this. And I don't think anyone would disagree with me on that.

The album is good, I personally like the atmospheres and how different it is from previous albums (but there are better shoegazing bands).
Come on guys, it's obvious that Alcest looking for a more digestible and commercial sound (which is obviously not metal) and I think I succeed this time.

For me, this album is disappointing, regardless of the styles being attempted. While it's perfectly pleasant to listen to, the problem is that the melodies tend to sound derivative and lazy, and the focus seems to be on sounding pretty versus being memorable and affecting. There is one standout song which I wish the rest of the album had been more like: L'Eveil Des Muses.

I don't care what anyone thinks, this album is quite good! There's a ton of gorgeous melodies here that are going to make my car rides on the coast very nice and pleasant indeed. I hope they do more albums in this style, although I'm fine if they go back to the black metal sound as well. I like both styles.

Written by CobiWan1993 on 10.02.2014 at 23:05

I don't care what anyone thinks, this album is quite good! There's a ton of gorgeous melodies here that are going to make my car rides on the coast very nice and pleasant indeed. I hope they do more albums in this style, although I'm fine if they go back to the black metal sound as well. I like both styles.

What he said.

I respect where they are going but I find it hard to follow them there. Actually, some songs prove they can do good stuff following this approach, but the whole album is still average mostly.

Alcest's debut pisses all over this one. It's very mellow yet sounds heavy compared to Shelter. After 3 listens I can't say this album impresses me a lot. Decent, so around a 6.5/10 for now.

Listened to this again a couple times today, it's great. It's shoegaze/post rock people. What were you expecting? He has moved on...

Written by tea[m]ster on 15.04.2014 at 01:24

Listened to this again a couple times today, it's great. It's shoegaze/post rock people. What were you expecting? He has moved on...

Well to be fair I didn't listen to this much but as I remember Voix Sereines and Délivrance were excellent and the rest were quite bland. And this is coming from someone who loved all previous works of Neige.

Written by Uldreth on 15.04.2014 at 01:40

Well to be fair I didn't listen to this much but as I remember Voix Sereines and Délivrance were excellent and the rest were quite bland.

I can see why some people have that impression. The middle of the album labors a bit for me but the ending track justifies the album as a whole.

Shelter its one of my Pet-peeves. It's an amazing record but its not, by any means, Metal at all. It's a Post Rock/Shoegaze/whatever the fuck you want to call it, it's not Metal and it's getting a lot of atention from the metal press.

Aside from that, its one of the best records of its genre of the last years and something definitely new and unique.

Thist deserves more attention ...it's different and it's pure...dreaming songs that enters deep within the core of the hearts of those who are trying to heal their souls!!!

Written by John Shock on 24.04.2014 at 18:47

...it's different and it's pure...

...fuckin' shit

Written by Paz on 24.04.2014 at 18:56

...fuckin' shit

Hey, bro, you can do better !

Upped this to a 9. It gets really addictive after further plays. The bonus track may be the best song on the album ; It's by far the "heaviest".

Listening to this album made me feel like I'm taking a stroll on the beach in autumn and listening to the sound of the waves.
The reason why Alcest is good for me is that their music makes me feel good. Shelter, clearly, is no exception.

Written by NocturnalStalker on 02.05.2014 at 18:00

Listening to this album made me feel like I'm taking a stroll on the beach in autumn and listening to the sound of the waves.
The reason why Alcest is good for me is that their music makes me feel good. Shelter, clearly, is no exception.

This is why a lot of people don't like the album. Sucks to be them.

Written by tea[m]ster on 04.05.2014 at 18:06

This is why a lot of people don't like the album. Sucks to be them.

That's right, but, I guess, it can't be helped...

Perefct release. The last song is specially beautiful... i mean, those choruses!