English
Last Updated on 06:44 by Giorgos Tsekas
Genre: Heavy Metal
Country: France
Label: Verycords
Release year: 2023
One of my favourite bands from the ‘80s Heavy Metal era, mighty SORTILÈGE, are back. In Keep It True Festival 2019 in Germany, more than 30 years later, the band made its comeback with original singer, Christian “Zouille” Augustin. It was the beginning of a new era. In 2020 they achieved a record deal with Verycords. The band is now formed by Zouille, Bruno Ramos and Olivier Spitzer on guitars, Sebastien Bonnet on bass and Clement Rouxel on drums.
Paying a tribute to their past, the band was born in 1981 from the ashes of Bloodwave. The original line-up was: Christian “Zouille” Augustin (vocals), Stéphane “L’anguille” Dumont and Didier “Dem” Demajean (guitars), Daniel “Lapin” Lapp (bass) and Jean-Philippe “Bob Snake” Dumont (drums). After performing numerous concerts in France, SORTILÈGE signed their very first recording contract with Dutch company Rave-On Records. The first EP was then released and led very quickly to the debut album, “Métamorphose“, produced by Devil’s Records (Madrigal). 1986 was the time for SORTILÈGE to release their second studio album “Armes de Héros”. After that, the band experienced internal tensions which have put an end to a short but effective career which had nevertheless left a legacy! The legacy that i want to remember.
The new line-up decided to re-record 12 classics from the 80s plus two new additional songs in 2020, which resulted in the “Phoenix” in August 2021. Well it was about time to truly test the dynamics of this new band’s formation with their full-length “Apocalypso”. With an overall of 10 songs, the album includes also special guests (Myrath, Loudblast’s Stephane Buriez). The sound is a bit far from what we are used to, losing bands’ trademark heavyness and this heavy fucking metal- in your face- attitude of their past legandary works. It has though good moments such as “Unbrakable Bones”, and the full of speed “Hidden Enthronement”. The production is good and the thematology of the songs are close to the one SORTILÈGE where always fond of, but still the album lacks this spark and clearly some tracks are really short without giving any added value to the rest of the work, kind of last minute fillers. I might maybe be a bit harsh on this new album but this is exactly because i am a huge fan that was really anticipating for something brighter and heavier.
The album will be released on March 3rd 2023 and there will be touring in April/May 2023.
