Celeste – Assassine(s) (Review)

Celeste are something special. Anyone who has ever seen them live will agree on that. Mostly standing in complete darkness, the only thing you’ll see are red lasers mounted on the heads of the band. There is only darkness, smoke and lasers. The Audiotree-Set from 2018 is a very good example for this (it has so much smoke that even the fire-alarm went off during the performance).

Darkness and smoke: those two things represent in a way my view on Celeste and their music: it is dark and I don’t know what they are exactly singing about, since I don’t speak or understand French. This doesn’t make the experience any less enjoyable for me, just like the music of Envy for example. Celeste is all about diving deep into the black and white aesthetic shown by the covers. The music is speaking in a universal language that draws the listener into the albums.

Five years after Infidele(s), Assassine(s) is Celeste’s most melodic and accessible work to date. Every now and then in songs like “Nonchalantes de beauté” or the opener “Des torrents de coups” those dark melodies cut through the wall of sound. As mentioned at the beginning, those melodies cut through the darkness like those lasers.

The instrumental tracks have always been among my favorite tracks since Morte(s) Nee(s) and Assassine(s) doesn’t break with this streak. Handclaps (!), strings, soaring guitars – everything put into roughly 4,5 minutes of atmospheric Post-Metal bliss.

“Le coeur noir charbon” is one of the best songs Celeste have written so far. In an impressive fashion, the album closer shows everything that was awesome about this album. An odyssey through varying tempos, emotions and vocal ranges (there’s even a female guest part). I can’t imagine a more fitting ending to this great record.

Assassine(s) is one of the early highlights in the year 2022. Celeste are at their peak creating the “whole package” of music, artwork and atmosphere. It will be hard for them to top this record.