About the fiercely contested fence as to whether Alcest is sublime or garbage, Maelstrom definitely stands firm on the side of the former. Souvenirs d’un autre monde, Alcest’s first full-length in its shoegaze, post-rock embodiment, stood as one of the finest albums of its year.

It was mostly due to the first song, "Primtemps Emeraude," which achieves a pinnacle of beautiful emotion and melody every single time. It is a forever memorable song.

However, the strength of Souvenirs lie unevenly on the virtues of that first song. The rest of the album is also excellent, but it’s nonetheless a marked drop-off from the genius of that first track.

Enter full-length album #2, Ecailles de lune. While Alcest’s best song might remain as "Printemps emeraude," Ecailles de lune is an improvement overall, with stronger melodies and more crafted emotional expression in general. Alcest has gotten more progressive in its arrangements and song approaches, which gives Ecailles a wonderful variety of songs that all sound like they belong together.

Alcest’s greatest quality is being able to hit, at will, a uniquely harmonious pitch, where the melody becomes transcendental, exquisitely summarizing an aesthetically gorgeous feeling of nostalgia, melancholy... yet satisfaction and joy... all wrapped up in an old-world charm.

Further improvements over album #1 is a bigger and richer sound, particularly in the drums. The guitars breathe with more life, and the layers of vocals express with more sonic depth.

Finally, and perhaps as a response to all those who decry Alcest as not being black metal, there are two songs with important, extended parts with black metal vocals, which also rule. But being black metal or not is hardly a worthwhile qualification for an album’s worth, and Alcest’s music speaks for itself. (9.5/10)