Sortilege – Apocalypso (Season of Mist)

 

Sortilege is a classic heavy metal band hailing from France.  They made some really great records back in the 1980s, released both in French and English.  Many musicians found them to be very influential.  One such follower was Chuck Schuldiner of Death, who loved their riff structures and melody lines.

Sortilege returned few years ago, and now they are back with Apocalypso, and album full of original material.  Vocalist, Christian Augustin, is the only returning original member.  Augustin put together a very impressive band that is still able to channel the Sortilege spirit.  Being a Sortilege fan back in the 1980s, this writer is quite surprised how impressive this album sounds, and how catchy these songs are.  Of course, the purists may argue about this or that, but to these ears this sounds like Sortilege. 

Apocalypso is a very traditional sounding album.  It has a very classic feel, and it’s fully delivered in French, as it should be.  The French language delivery gives it more of an exotic feel.  Great to see the band still honoring this tradition.  Instrumentally, both guitar players, Bruno Ramos and Olivier Spitzer, set the tone here.  Those two players are very inventive, and carry Sortilege with pride.  Bass player Sebastien Bonnet, and drummer, Clement Rouxel, provide a very solid and dependable bottom end.

The album consists of 10 tracks, and it’s a great listen all the way through.  There are some cool surprises like the middle eastern section in Verriere les Portes de Babylone ,  the tribal feel of Le Sacre Du Sorcier, or the epic nature of the title song.  There are many melodies that jump out of nowhere, and it’s easy to hum along to these songs for variety of reasons.  It appears the album was written by Augustin, Spitzer, and Ramos, and Spitzer is credited as the producer.  That’s definitely a tight unit of players who got this task accomplished!

Sortilege still sounds like a band with a purpose, and Apocalypso is a great way to reintroduce this unique group to a wider and younger audience.  They orchestrated certain aspects of their sound, but it’s actually to the benefit of the band and the songs.  Sortilege is still continuing on their path from the 1980s, nothing was reinvented here, but it’s exactly as it should be, and that’s the bottom line.  In many ways, that’s also the miracle of it all.

Mark Kadzielawa