Wikipedia

Spiritual Instinct

Spiritual Instinct is the sixth studio album by French post-black metal band Alcest. The album was released on 25 October 2019 through Nuclear Blast and garnered mostly positive reviews from critics. Spiritual Instinct features Alcest live bassist Indria Saray performing on bass in the studio for the second time in the history of the band after Kodama.

Spiritual Instinct
Studio album by
Alcest
Released25 October 2019 (2019-10-25)
StudioDrudenhaus Studio, (Nantes)
Genre
Length40:59
LanguageFrench
LabelNuclear Blast
Alcest chronology
Kodama
(2016) 		Spiritual Instinct
(2019) 		Les Chants de l'aurore
(2024)
Singles from Spiritual Instinct
  1. "Protection"
    Released: 23 August 2019
  2. "Sapphire"
    Released: 27 September 2019

Background and release edit

After the release of the band's fifth studio album Kodama (2016), Alcest departed from Prophecy Productions and signed with Nuclear Blast on 10 April 2019 in anticipation for the release of their sixth studio album.[1][2] On 23 August 2019, "Protection" was released as the album's lead single.[3] "Sapphire", the second single, followed on 27 September 2019.[4]

Critical reception edit

Spiritual Instinct was released to a positive critical reception, with Metacritic, a review aggregation website that assigns normalised ratings out of 100, determined a score of 82 based on four critics, indicating "Universal Acclaim".[5] Sam Law, writing for British rock magazine Kerrang!, gave a rating of 4/5, noting that while the album was fundamentally sound and well produced, it was inferior to Alcest's earlier work.[6] This concern was echoed by other critics, including Lukas Wojcicki of Canadian music publication Exclaim!,[7] and Jason Roche of heavy metal news site Blabbermouth.net.[8] Nonetheless, most reviewers concluded that the album was enjoyable and a worthy addition to Alcest's discography.[9][10][11]

Track listing edit

All tracks are written by Neige

Spiritual Instinct track listing
No.TitleLength
1."Les Jardins de minuit" ("The Midnight Gardens")7:53
2."Protection"5:49
3."Sapphire"5:00
4."L'Île des morts" ("Isle of the Dead")9:04
5."Le Miroir" ("The Mirror")5:31
6."Spiritual Instinct"7:42
Total length:40:59

Personnel edit

Alcest
Other personnel
  • Indria Saray – bass guitar
  • Kathrine Shepard – vocals on "L'île des morts"
  • Benoît Roux – recording, production, mixing
  • Mika Jussila – mastering
  • William Lacalmontie – photograph
  • Førtifem – layout, illustration, art direction

Charts edit

Chart performance for Spiritual Instinct
Chart (2019) Peak
position
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[12] 63
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[13] 92
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[14] 34
French Albums (SNEP)[15] 106
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[16] 12
Scottish Albums (OCC)[17] 78
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[18] 30
UK Album Downloads (OCC)[19] 57
UK Independent Albums (OCC)[20] 22
UK Rock & Metal Albums (OCC)[21] 7
US Heatseekers Albums (Billboard)[22] 6

References edit

  1. ^ "ALCEST Sign Album Contract With Nuclear Blast Records; Work Underway On Sixth Album". Metal Forces. 10 April 2019. Archived from the original on 27 April 2021. Retrieved 27 April 2021.
  2. ^ Blum, Jordan (24 October 2019). "Alcest Deliver Exceptional Blackgaze Catharsis on 'Spiritual Instinct'". PopMatters. Archived from the original on 14 August 2020. Retrieved 27 April 2021.
  3. ^ DiVita, Joe (23 August 2019). "Alcest's Evolution Continues on 'Protection,' New Album Details Revealed". Loudwire. Retrieved 25 February 2024.
  4. ^ DeVille, Chris (27 September 2019). "Alcest – "Sapphire" Video". Stereogum. Retrieved 25 February 2024.
  5. ^ "Spiritual Instinct by Alcest". Metacritic. Red Ventures. Archived from the original on 27 April 2021.
  6. ^ Law, Sam (23 October 2019). "Album Review: Alcest – Spiritual Instinct". Kerrang!. Archived from the original on 6 August 2020. Retrieved 27 April 2021.
  7. ^ Wojcicki, Lukas (24 October 2019). "Alcest Spiritual Instinct". Exclaim!. Archived from the original on 20 January 2021. Retrieved 27 April 2021.
  8. ^ Roche, Jason (2 November 2019). "CD Reviews - Spiritual Instinct Alcest". Blabbermouth.net. Archived from the original on 14 December 2019. Retrieved 27 April 2021.
  9. ^ Garland, Robert (30 October 2019). "Review: Alcest - Spiritual Instinct | Sputnikmusic". Sputnik Music. Archived from the original on 27 April 2021. Retrieved 27 April 2021.
  10. ^ Davis, Cody (27 October 2019). "Album Review: ALCEST Spiritual Instinct". Metal Injection. Archived from the original on 2 December 2020. Retrieved 27 April 2021.
  11. ^ Jurek, Thom. "Spiritual Instinct - Alcest". AllMusic. Archived from the original on 7 June 2020. Retrieved 27 April 2021.
  12. ^ "Austriancharts.at – Alcest – Spiritual Instinct" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 5 December 2021.
  13. ^ "Ultratop.be – Alcest – Spiritual Instinct" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 5 December 2021.
  14. ^ "Alcest: Spiritual Instinct" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. Retrieved 5 December 2021.
  15. ^ "Lescharts.com – Alcest – Spiritual Instinct". Hung Medien. Retrieved 5 December 2021.
  16. ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Alcest – Spiritual Instinct" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 5 December 2021.
  17. ^ "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 25 February 2024.
  18. ^ "Swisscharts.com – Alcest – Spiritual Instinct". Hung Medien. Retrieved 5 December 2021.
  19. ^ "Official Album Downloads Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 25 February 2024.
  20. ^ "Official Independent Albums Chart Top 50". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 25 February 2024.
  21. ^ "Official Rock & Metal Albums Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 25 February 2024.
  22. ^ "Alcest Spiritual Instinct Chart History". Billboard. 6 November 2019. Archived from the original on 6 November 2019. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
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