Foscor - Les Irreals Visions album review

Foscor’s coming of age on fifth album Les Irreals Visions is a marked departure from the withering second-wave worship of the Catalonians’ 2004 debut. The tremolo-picked tritones and feral recriminations have been eschewed for the sense of melancholic, beautiful tragedy that first found voice on 2014’s Those Horrors Wither. Here Foscor’s black metal roots take a back seat to allow melodic aspirations to flourish. Fiar’s clean baritone dominates the melodrama of opener Instants, the uplifting power of the major chords offset by a rapacious undercurrent of blastbeats at the track’s death. Without the punishinglypercussive solidity of guest drummer J.F., also of death metallers Cruciamentum, the record may prove a step too far from their comfort zone, but with his anchor the band are free to experiment, in the eloquent Latin solos of Altars, or the churning consternation of Espectres Al Cau’s build to breathtaking catharsis. Foscor’s leap in songcraft is marked, satisfying darker urges whilst showcasing a dazzling vision of the band’s future.