Another excellent example of the French brand of innovative metal is Klone. They’re from Poitiers and their blend of metal is quite original. I got totally blown away by their previous All Seeing Eye album. In May this year they released their third album, entitled Black Days. This record is on display now.
The music on Black Days isn’t as bleak as the album title would suggest. It starts with an Oriental styled instrumental intro which leads into Rites of Passage. The aforementioned Oriental flourishes are a firm reminder to the band’s previous album. These influences also appear in Monster, Behold The Silence, and Closed Season.
Tool is an obvious influence on Black Days as well. This is especially apparent in the song build-up, the overall atmosphere and the use of all kinds of weird sudden time changes. I don’t mind the Tool worship here, because Klone manages to bend this in their own particular innovative way.
Another key factor on Black Days is the solid song writing. This enhances the accessibility of songs like Give Up The Rest, Hollow Way, Immaculate Desire and Danse Macabre. Atmosphere is also very important on this album. This is achieved by using electronic effects and the use of string sections and even some brass here and there. It even gives Black Days an almost avant-garde feel.
The vocals by Yann Ligner reflect the album’s diversity. His clean vocals are reminiscent to grunge and his half growled, half sung style give the songs a raw feel. Production wise there’s nothing to complain about.
This might get a bit old, but as I said before Klone is another bright example of the vibrant metal scene. Black Days is a clear reflection of that. I can’t wait to see these guys rock the stage here in The Netherlands!
written by Raymond Westland
