E-L-R – Vexier (Recommendation)

E-L-R completely took me by surprise when I first saw them opening for Amenra in 2019. Their almost hypnotic style of Metal left me no other choice but to fall in love with them on the spot.

Vexier sees them refining their style they showed in 2019 with their debut Mænad, one of my favorite releases of that said year.

The feeling you get while listening to Vexier is hard to describe. It is like being carried by clouds of never-ending riffs into higher spheres. E-L-R took the qualities of their debut and improved them on almost every level.

It is hard to do any cherry-picking because this album works so well when consumed whole, but the opening and ending tracks (“Opiate the Sun” and “Forêt“) really take the cake here for me. As mentioned before, the mantric repetition of riffs and melodies is something that I really love about this band. “Opiate the Sun” and “Forêt” take their extra time, before they oppose you slowly and with all their might.

Another try to describe E-L-R‘s music would be the witnessing of an oncoming rain-storm. You see the clouds gathering, the darkening of the sky. Then you hear the thunder, you see the lightning. At the end you feel the rain, the wind, it shakes you and you are a part of all this.