Dés – Astres (Album 2023)

Thomas Augier, Dronte, Royal McBee Corporation, Grind-O-Matic, Jopil Lastec

Acoustic Post-Metal, Noise Rock, Grindcore, Industrial Electro

Three different groups. Three different approaches. One common musical theme and lyricist. And one artist moderating the record. This is „Dés – Astres“. A very special split concept, like the „Sampler In A Day“. 

The three bands providing one composition each are Dronte, Royal McBee Corporation and Grind-O-Matic. They teamed up with Jopil Lastec writing about the end of the world and Thomas Augier, whose Industrial fill-ins tie the songs together. Produced by Sonorasso, Swarm Records, Slashcore and distributed by Pogo Records, the colorful artwork displays a smoking meteor in cartoon style.

Many have picked up the apocalypse as topic before. For this team, it starts with a sweet collage of bumps like waterdrops, cracks and screaming squeaking. The collective melody sounds beautiful in the acoustic style of Dronte, named like the extinct bird. The spoken words talk about political scientist „Fukuyama“, interrupted by raunchy growls. So you can still feel the heaviness from the guitars similar to Crude or Sevendust without distortion. 

After Thomas Augier leads us down a corridor rumbling and brawling to the next room and variation. Royal McBee Corporation’s Noise is driven by the classic Rock instruments with many effects, making think of Late! and Rollins Band. Lyrically, it talks about „Ikejime“, the method to paralyze fishs. 

More percussion instruments and squeaks open the final door to „Reactionnaire“ by Grind-O-Matic, again talking about politics. Direct, fast and brutal like Grindcore should be, with Sludge impact before it drowns in wonderful noise and distortion. The final outro shuts down everything like a blackout. Humanity is done. 

The smooth yet raw version, the faster beating middle one up to the smashing third part all have their own appeal, hitting a heavy mind’s soul. With the electronic transitions, the union crafted a round and maybe prophetic piece of sound, that might survive in a time capsule for following species.