Loudblast "Altering Fates and Destinies"
FORMAT | LP
"How many bands out there had been playing death metal for that long? How many have helped kick-start a whole movement and are still around to tell the tale? How many have put out such universally-praised albums in the 90s like Disincarnate or Sublime Dementia and are still active these days? You do the math. But while you're at it, Loudblast and their undisputable leader Stéphane Buriez are keeping themselves busy moving forward, as ever. And their ninth full-length 'Altering Fates And Destinies', sees them reaching another level of sophistication while, at the same time, returning more than ever at the very roots of their craft.
It's been almost four decades since their very first demo 'Behind The Dark Mist'. Yes, that long. And yes, 2025 will mark Loudblast 40th birthday, with plenty of special events and surprises planned. But that will be next year. For the time being, Loudblast have chosen instead to still live in the now and release in the meantime maybe the most surprising and daring album of their long career It all started back in December 2019: while waiting for their, then, new album 'Manifesto' to be released, Buriez moved out of Paris, where he had lived for the last fifteen years or so, to the country side, Stéphane Buriez comments : "In the middle of nowhere, in a big and confortable house, away from everybody and where I was able to build my own studio". Little did he know that less than three months later, COVID hit. All in a sudden, the world stood still. But not Buriez. Instead of staying at nothing or pounding over his now blurry future, he set out to do what he does best: creating new music. "It was a whole different experience" says Buriez about the creative process. " With everybody spread all over the country, lead guitarist Jérôme Point-Canovas focusing for the time being on his family, drummer of thirty two years Hervé Coquerel choosing to solely focus on the live activities and bass player, and former DRAGONFORCE, Frédéric Leclercq extremely busy with KREATOR ". He ended up being de facto the album main driving force. "And when the time came to record, it turned out to be like one massive puzzle: while the drums were done by former SVART CROWN/ OTARGOS Nico 'Ranko' Muller in the Vacamara studio in March 2023, I did most of the guitars on my own, before completing everything at Fred's studio, with him handling most of the guitar solos besides his bass parts. It proved to be such a creative period that the band recorded over thirteen songs, almost one hour of music. " "We had long discussions with the label because it really matters to us to be a cohesive, to-the-point album, as bands use to do in the 80s. And we know that these days, people and especially our younger fans are more interested in singles or shorter albums. Yet every song we ended up recording, although there was over thirty to choose from, is equally good. So while some of it will be exclusive to the limited edition CD of the album, they're as good as the rest." Even if he voluntary describes the material as "pretty old-school", Buriez talks about Altering Fates And Destinies as a very personal album. "It's a good synthesis of what we stand for in 2024. We don't forget where we come from yet we didn't set any boundaries and vowed to do whatever the f*** we wanted." Indeed, a track like 'From Beyond II (The Return)' for instance sees them dwelling back in the Lovecraft mythos but also referencing their own history by offering a sequel to a track off their 1989 debut album, 'Sensorial Treatment' which can also be read as the story of their beginning as a band. Hence also why Buriez went sonically for a very organic and natural sounding type of production, devoid of as much of triggered sounds as possible. "Over the last years, I have had all those great experiences outside of Loudblast, either with SINSAENUM or the tribute band recently formed with my friend from AGRESSOR and former Loudblast lead guitarist Alex Colin
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