Recommended for fans of: Heretoir, Harakiri For The Sky, Gaerea
Well, here we are everyone, the very last post of the year… before we begin all over again tomorrow.
And it’s fitting that the last post of 2025 gets to be another edition of The Synn Report, as this series of articles was always intended to mark the transition from one month to another… or, in this case, from one year to the next.
I will say, however, that it is absolutely shocking to me that this is the first time we’re writing at any real length about prolific French “Post” Black Metal project Jours Pâles, as while we may have mentioned them here and there before (including just recently in my end-of-year round-up) the timing has just never been right for us to give them the attention they’ve so clearly deserved.
But now, at last, it’s time to change that.
So if you like your music rich in both blackened intensity and moody melodic energy – their most recent album, Résonances, in particular has some serious late-90’s/early-00’s era Dark Tranquillity vibes to it – all topped off with a blend of heart-wrenching emotional highs and immersive, introspective lows which owe a fair bit, in my estimation, to the viscerality and vulnerability of Punk/Hardcore, then you might just be about to discover your new favourite band.
2021 – ÉCLOSION
It’s always interesting when a band is several albums in (and, as of writing, Jours Pâles now have four full-length records to their name) to look back at their early work to see how much (or how little) they’ve changed, and what seeds which were planted way back at the beginning have borne fruit over the years.
And while Jours Pâles have had a relatively inconsistent line-up over the course of their career – with only vocalist/main-man Florian Lecomte participating in the writing and recording of all four albums – it’s still possible to trace aspects of their sound and identity from the very first track of Éclosion (“Illunés”) through to their latest release.
Whether that’s the former track’s unabashedly melodic approach (erring on Melodeath territory at times), which blends nimble riffs and shimmering tremolo runs with moments of melancholy introspection, or the punchier and more powerful delivery of “Aux Confins Du Silence” (both of which feel like they arguably owe more to Dark Tranquillity than Dissection), it should be clear to anyone reading this – by the end of the article, at least – that Éclosion successfully laid down a firm foundation for the band to build on right from the start.
Sure, certain songs – such as “Ma Dysthymie, Sa Vastitude” and the terrific title-track – perhaps err a little more towards the stereotypical Post-/Atmospheric Black Metal style of the period, but considering that these tracks (plus “Des Jours à Rallonge”) are some of the most striking numbers on the record… well, that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
Plus, it’s not like the band are afraid to throw in a few unexpected cureveballs here and there – the female vocals on “Eclamé” are definitely a nice touch, as is the unexpectedly bombastic blend of stop-start riffage and spiralling lead guitar hooks during “Suivant l’Astre” – meaning that even if they’re not quite the finished article on Éclosion, it’s already clear that the only way is up for Jours Pâles going forwards!
2022 – TENSIONS
There’s definitely something a little “punkier” about the band’s second album, which the vocals of “Jour De Pluie, Jour De Fête” in particular – delivered with a little more bite and bark, and a lot more charisma, despite eschewing the standard blackened snarl – quickly make apparent.
Of course, the prominent lead melodies are still present and correct (much to my, and hopefully your, delight), but it’s clear – especially during the unconvetionally infectious Post-Black Metal-core of “Saint-Flour Nostalgie” – that Jours Pâles have elected to follow a slightly different path this time around.
That’s not to say, by any means, that this is a path they’re walking lone, or that they’re the first band to do so – the heavier and more aggressive moments of “Ecumante De Rage” and the electrifying title-track, for example, would sit neatly alongside both Harakiri for the Sky and Gaerea‘s most recent material, due to their seamless melding of spitfire energy and sparkling melody – but it’s unlikely to be the sort of path that the “purists” or “elitists” in the scene would probably approve of.
Not that it seems like Jours Pâles would ever bother to take the time to worry about such things… after all, they’re likely too busy indulging their expressively ambient proclivities (“Saturnienne Lassitude”) or wearing their hearts, and their emotions, out on their sleeves for all to see (“Hâve”).
Granted, Tensions is arguably a little too long for its own good (there’s a noticeable lull during the penultimate pairing of “Ode A La Vie (Chanson Pour Aldérica)” and “Dose(s)” that feels like a natural place to trim some of the fat) but by closing with the ambitious and multi-faceted post-metallic, post-atmospheric, post-whatever strains of “Les Feuilles Tombent” (both the longest and most intricately arranged track of their career so far) they make sure to end things on a high note that should, all things being equal, leave you wanting to hear more!
2024 – DISSOLUTION
Album #3 finds the band, in yet another arrangement, attempting to meld the more “blackened” and “atmospheric” approach of their debut with the more unorthodox, yet still unconventionally infectious, style of their second album… and, for the most part, succeeding at this goal with impressive aplomb.
Opener “Taciturne”, for example, is noticeably more intense than what we last heard from the group, while still expressing just as much raw emotion and displaying just as much of a knack for cutting together a killer blend of catchy leads and hooky riffs, with the former being particularly effective at grabbing the audience’s attention (and I bet they’re even better live).
The poignant keyboards, pounding drums, and piercing melodic leads and of “La reine de mes peines” only reinforce this impression (while also making the “blackened Dark Tranquillity” comparisons even harder to ignore, especially when the band cut loose with the storming blastbeats and soaring soloing during the song’s second half), as do the vibrant, visceral, and undeniably virulent strains of “Noire impériale”.
And while they’re obviously still not afraid to experiment with their songwriting – not just during longer, and more diverse songs like the title-track and the aforementioned “La reine de mes peines”, but also by throwing in an extra dash of female guest vocals during “Les lueurs d’autoroutes” – it seems to me that on Dissolution the real focus has been on refining their distinctive Black/Punk/Melodic/Atmospheric dynamic into an even sharper and more efficient form.
In particular, the likes of “Réseaux venins” (which features some of the biggest, beefiest guitars and thickest, richest bass work on the record) and the blast-driven, synth-laden “Limérence” (eat your heart out Gaerea) showcase a band not only at their heaviest – hitting harder than ever – but also at their most irresistible (not to mention, displaying the most cross-over potential yet).
Trust me, by the time that the thundering, electrifying strains of “Terminal Nocturne” come to an unexpectedly soothing, but undeniably sublime, close, you’ll probably be wondering why these guys aren’t a much, much bigger deal!
2025 – RÉSONANCES
If the opening synth lines of “La Frontière Entre Nous Et Le Néant” don’t immediately put you in mind of late-90’s/early-00’s era Dark Tranquillity… well, you should probably go back and listen to them again, because they really do set the scene, and the tone, for the rest of the album.
The guitar work on “Une Splendeur Devenue Terne” – by some measure the longest song on any of the band’s four full-length albums – for example, bursts out of the speakers like a more frantic, and subtly blackened, version of Messrs. Stanne, Sundin, Henriksson and co. circa Projector/Haven, with the song’s catchy chord progressions, light-speed lead guitar work, and melancholy melodic hooks hitting many of the same brilliant sonic and emotional heights as the likes of “The Sun Fired Blanks” and “The Wonders At Your Feet”.
That’s not to say that Résonances is a derivative album by any means – the eloquent ebb and flow between moody ambience and brooding bombast, and back again, which characterises “L’essentialité Du Frisson” is purely Jours Pâles, no question – but the band have definitely embraced this side of their sound (without abandoning their more “blackened” aspects) more than ever on tracks like the sombre “Cinéraire” and the gleamingly melodic “Mouvement Ostentatoire Rémanent Totalitaire”.
I’ll grant you that maybe a little more judicious trimming of the track-list might have tightened things up even further – the instrumental interlude of “Incommensurable” doesn’t really add much to the record, nor does the album’s outro track “10-11-2021” (which feels more than a little anticlimactic, coming as it does on the heels of its absolutely captivating predecessor, which really should have been the closer, when all is said and done) – but the highs here (especially that eleven minute early stand-out) are more than good enough to keep you engaged even allowing for the occasional lesser cut (“Viens Avec Moi”).
Indeed, the likes of “Savile” (just under seven minutes of heart-racing riffs, ear-catching leads, and precise, punishing percussion blended together into a series of irresisitibly infectious hooks) and “La Plus Belle Des Saisons” (part Post-Metal, part Post-Black Metal, part subtly proggy Melodeath, replete with some absolutely spellbinding lead guitar work) serve as a reminder that, while Jours Pâles might not be as big or as notorious as some of their more prominent peers, they’re just as good, and deserve just as much of your attention.