(Our Denver-based friend Gonzo has turned in the following review of the debut album from the French metallic hardcore band Sorceror, which is out now on Delivrance Records.)
Don’t look now, but something big is happening in France.
And no, this time it’s not protesters burning down half of Paris after the government tried to raise the retirement age, but the big thing I’m referencing might as well be the soundtrack to exactly that.
Formed in Paris in 2020, Sorcerer fuses a sound firmly rooted in hardcore but adds just enough progressive layers to separate itself from being pigeonholed to one genre. On DEVOTION, the band’s debut, the shouted vocals, chugging grooves, and discordant riffs bring to mind the best of what the ’90s had to offer in turning a venue into a flurry of human tornadoes. But there’s something deeper at work here.
The tortured melancholy of the vocal howls gives the music here an unmistakable soul that many of Sorcerer’s peers just don’t have. This is evident throughout the record, but it really fucking hits during the chorus of “Fortress,” which features an appearance from members of Glassbone, also from Paris. Cranked at full volume, you’ll be windmilling your way into accidentally breaking a vase in your living room. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Right from the start, though, DEVOTION doesn’t pull any punches. Opener “Badlands” slams its way through your speakers, alternating between jarring breakdowns and galloping verses. It’s a veritable clinic in how to write an opening track for an album like this. “The Eternal Grief” returns to more of the tortured melancholy mentioned above. The way it ends with a devastating head-nodding groove paves the way for the title track to deliver its pummeling, and you’d be hard-pressed not to see a bunch of kids jumping off the stage and screaming into the mic when it’s time for “In the Arms of Mortality.”
All that being said, the closer here – “Someone Else’s Skin” – is where I got pulled in. It was the first track I heard off the record, and its deceptive seven-minute length hangs around just long enough to take you through the spectrum of human emotions. It’s got rage, loathing, sorrow, lament, and everything in between, bringing late-stage Poison the Well to mind with its furious marriage of raw emotion and chaotic, discordant riffage.
There were tons of great releases I discovered in April, and sadly I haven’t had nearly the time I’d like to sit and write about all of them. But if you delve into the suddenly explosive French heavy music scene, DEVOTION is one you won’t want to miss.
https://sorcererhc.bandcamp.com/album/devotion
https://www.facebook.com/sorcererhc
https://www.instagram.com/sorcererhc