This is at least an improvement over the interminable Stoned Guitar, with a much more concerted attempt to write songs and go for a somewhat more wide-ranging scope of early-'70s progressive rock than the heavy blues-psychedelia that dominated their first albums…
For principal songwriter and frontman Neige, ALCEST has always been a gateway to the otherworldly, a means of exploring his spirituality. An elemental two-piece, completed by long-serving drummer and creative confidante Winterhalter, their forthcoming sixth album »Spiritual Instinct« finds Neige at his most personal. “This time I had something urgent to put on the table,” he explains. “It is a very cathartic record - something needed to get out of me. It’s darker than usual, and heavier.” Written in bursts both during and after a prolonged period of touring in support of 2016’s hugely successful »Kodama«, the sense of urgency Neige speaks of manifests in a record full of spontaneity, of immediate impact – be that in the breath-taking pace of 'Les Jardin De Minuit'’s tempo changes, or 'Sapphire'’s sun-kissed harmonies over an impermeable back beat, one thing »Spiritual Instinct« has is riffs, an acknowledgement and celebration of the black metal foundations that anchor their uplifting post-metal.
Black Star Riders is a rock band formed in December 2012, when members of the most recent line-up of Thin Lizzy decided to record new material, but chose not to release it under the Thin Lizzy name. While Thin Lizzy will continue on an occasional basis, Black Star Riders is a full-time band, described as "the next step in the evolution of the Thin Lizzy story". The band's first album, All Hell Breaks Loose, was released on 21 May 2013. The Killer Instinct is the second studio album, released on February 20, 2015.