The only descriptor I could find about the band is a short one from their Bandcamp page, which reads, “heavy reverb music for the heavy-hearted.” It’s a solo, one-man band from Toulouse, France, and every song on the album is lengthy. “A Blurred Contour of Everything” is first, and I get an 80’s vibe of THE CURE with the way the somber melodies are composed. The soaring and bloody Black Metal screams are tempered with beautiful clean vocals, and they are able to co-exist in the same room. Added to the colorful palate are additional melodies that make your heart ache. It relaxes after the half-way mark, giving the grandeur time to seep into your soul, and no matter how hard the wind howls, the mountain remains.

“Sun” is the bright spot in the morning sky that reminds us of the warmth that is out there in the world, though it can be hard to find at times. What I also find are thick branches that block my path in my quest to find that warmth, and they seem to expand on me with each passing step. Keeping my eyes on the prize, I plod forward and move them, one at a time, until the sun’s glory comes into view. The intensity and gravity of doubt, however, weighs impossibly heavy on my back, and cuts like razors against my flesh, and the duality of these opposing things feels exaggerated.   “The Great Lines” is much more mellow, and I feel its warmth, but you still have the feeling of tension hanging in the air.

“Starflowers” closes the album, and it is so very gorgeous. Even amidst the screams and wails, it drips with moments of pure grace and joy, and you get the sense of something larger out there than what you can comprehend when you stare up into the night sky. There are sweeping moments that take away your breath, and gentle one that put you into a peaceful rest. Overall, the album “Soaring” is an album that ascends, stretching its reach beyond earthly constraints, but it does so with an overwhelming sense of sorrow and fury, like the way fire rises into the sky, or the way storms carve their path across the sky. It is the relentless pursuit of something greater, something just beyond the reach of human hands.