AN NCS INTERVIEW: ARGILE

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Jul 232024
 

(Today we present Comrade Aleks‘ extensive recent interview with Philippe Courtois of Misanthrope fame, with a special focus on the Misanthrope spinoff Argile and the completion this year of Argile‘s trilogy of albums.)

Argile is the doomy branch of French intellectual extremes Misanthrope and it rarely emerges from the underground. While Misanthrope have been steadily recording albums and performing for over 35 years, Argile have been moving modestly and heavily from album to album.

Spleen Angel is the band’s third full-length work, and it is separated from the previous full-length by a huge break, counting 14 years. The album was recorded with a full Misanthrope line-up: Philippe Courtois (vocals), Jean-Jacques Moréac (bass, keyboards), Gaël Féret (drums) and Anthony Skemama (guitars).

Argile sound absolutely doomy, but unbridledly artistic, and do not restrain their impulses by genre conventions. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: MISANTHROPE

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Apr 062023
 

(Today we present Comrade Aleks‘ extensive interview with Philippe Courtois, founder of the foundational French extreme metal band Misanthrope, who are still alive and well 35 years after the band’s inception.)

The ancient city of Angers, Maine-et-Loire, is famous with its rich history, and you may have heard about Angers Cathedral, Château d’Angers, and the Apocalypse Tapestry. At least you may have heard of the liqueur Cointreau and it’s not a bad choice after all. But the city is known to metalheads for another historical event – almighty Misanthrope raised its head when Philippe Courtois (also known as S.A.S. de l’Argilière) gathered the band’s first line-up in 1988 proclaiming his manifest of hate to mankind.

The band gained well-deserved recognition fast, as their avant-garde and technical death metal demonstrated a unique blend of influences stretching far from metal music. French lyrics, a highly artistic approach to the songwriting, and energetic live performances soon became the band’s trademarks, a features which differentiated Misanthrope from other death metal maniacs.

Besides that, Philippe played an important role in the world-wide metal underground as he’s a co-owner of the French metal label Holy Records alongside Séverine Foujanet. A lot of bands from the ’90s started their career with Holy – Nightfall, On Thorns I Lay, Orphaned Land, Septic Flesh, and more. Continue reading »