No Return - "Machinery" [2002]

Artist: No Return

Title: Machinery

Genre: Industrial Death/Thrash Metal

Country: France
Year: 2002

Track List:

1. Machinery
2. The Recycler
3. Violator
4. Synthetic
5. Disillusion
6. Virus
7. Resurrection
8. Disease
9. Dynamo
10. The Last Act
11. Biomechanoid
12. Secret Face (Death cover)

No Return are widely regarded one of the biggest French trash metal acts, started as early as in 1984 under the name Evil Power before changing it in 1989. Honestly I'm not familiar with their early works at all (and the whole 80s French metal scene is still mostly a terra incognita for me), but this album was a pretty interesting find. Its sound has been described as a mix of Kreator, (old) Fear Factory, and melodic death metal of the Swedish school, with a lot of electronic music influences. While I can't call "Machinery" a masterpiece, as it's definitely not as innovative as the early works of Fear Factory, Nocturnus, or Oxiplegatz (whom No Return also were compared to), yet it's still very decent and rather overlooked industrial death/thrash metal release with a pronounced futuristic theme.

Elyose - "Ipso Facto" [2015]

Artist: Elyose

Title: Ipso Facto

Genre: Gothic Metal, Electro Metal

Country: France

Release date: 2015

Track List:

1. Fragrances
2. Femme De Verre
3. De Guerre Lasse
4. L'Animal-aimé
5. Plus qu'Humain (feat. Florent Jannier)
6. Chronocide
7. Mon Charme
8. Rédemption
9. Pour Un Écu
10. Droit Dans Les Yeux
11. Contretemps

As you know, I usually don't listen to Francophone music that much (with some notable exceptions like Amesoeurs or Paris Violence), but Elyose managed to pleasantly surprise me, even if I can't call this album a masterpiece. I think this review describes it quite well:

"When it comes to classifications as "modern electro metal" or "electro gothic metal" and similar descriptions, I'm always a bit suspicious, and that's the thing with this French outfit named Elyose. I must admit that I wasn't familiar with this name before the release of this album, even though they were formed in 2009 and since then released one EP and one album. Ipso Facto is their sophomore full-lenght and if we believe to their words, it's heavier and more focused on energy than were their previous releases. It's interesting to see that the main member and composer here is their attractive vocalist Justine Daaé, and not only that she's good looking, the girl is also trained classical vocalist and she proves that on every single track up here. Well, like in many cases before, even though the quality of music on Ipso Facto is above average, it somehow doesn't have enough of that little something to reach a bit higher and most of the time it just sounds too mellow. Let me explain... >>>"

Musically, it falls in the broad category of "female-fronted metal" with a lot of electronics, but I wouldn't call it "industrial metal" as some reviewers did. However, some of their tracks are fairly close to it, such as "Plus Qu'Human", which is undoubtedly the best piece off this album:

It features dual male/female vocals of the "beauty vs. the beast" style (featuring Florent Jannier of Arkan), which the reviewer above didn't like, but for me it sounds pretty good. The rest of "Ipso Facto" isn't as memorable, yet it shows a lot of professionalism and devoution, and represents Elyose as one of the most interesting lesser-known female fronted metal bands to appear in the last decade. Yeah, there were quite a lot of them, but Elyose really stand out from the rest, not in the least due to the interesting keyboard work which no doubt would appeal to the fans of industrial/"futuristic" kind of metal. Singing in French adds their music a lot of charm too, and hopefully it wouldn't prevent them for being better known outside their hone country.

Unit Wail - "Pangaea Proxima" [2012]

Artist: Unit Wail

Title: Pangaea Proxima

Genre: Progressive Rock, Avant-Prog

Country: France

Release date: 2012 (2016 remaster)

Track List:

1. Mesozoïc Cities
2. Ombos
3. Télété
4. Sargasso Sea
5. Outerspace
6. Humanoïd Fish From Encelade
7. Home of Nowhere
8. Magnétostriction
9. Holocene Extinction
10. Shambhala
11. Three Eyes
12. Subdeath 

Unit Wail is the latest up to date project of Frank W. Fromy of Shub-Niggurath fame. Initially I was sort of disappointed by this album because, judging from its concept, I expected something more in the vein of Solaris or Hidria Spacefolk, but heavy avant-prog rooted in the previous Fromy's project 000 (Triple Zero) is fine too. French prog-rock bands really know how to do this sort of dark and "cosmic" sound the right way! You can read a more detailed review of "Pangaea Proxima" here, and its remastered version (the original 2012 version was recorded and mixed under difficult conditions) is available on Bandcamp:

000 (Triple Zero) - "Crypto Sensus" [1985]

Artist: 000 (Triple Zero)

Title: Crypto Sensus

Genre: Progressive Rock, Avant-Prog

Country: France

Release date: 1985

Track List:

1. Part Three - Pour Produire Un Sentiment De Chaleur Sous La Tête Du Défunt
2. Irruption
3. Part Two - Pour Ne Pas Subir Le Châtiment
4. Les Succubes
5. Part One - Pour Que L'Ame Ne Soit Pas Capturée Dans L'Au-Delà
6. Le Balancement Cathartique
7. Part Four - Pour Ne Pas Etre Echaudé En Buvant De L'Eau
8. De Sales Lendemains

The one and only album of a very mysterious French avant-prog band with an ex-guitarist of Shub-Niggurath in their line-up. Even the release date is uncertain: most sources state it was recorded in 1985, but there's no evidence of it, and only one thing can be said for sure: it was released in 2000 on CD by Musea. Line-up (most likely incomplete):

- Frank-William Fromy / bass
- Edward Perraud / drums, percussions
- Vincent Sicot-Vantalon / electronics

Musically, it's "cosmic" avant-prog with a lot of electronic effects, more similar to F.W.Fromy's later project Unit Wail than to Shub-Niggurath. It wasn't easy to find this album in MP3 (it turned out to be even more  obscure than Nuclear Death's "Harmony Drinks Of Me"), yet I finally managed to do it. Enjoy:

Download

Gong - "Acid Motherhood" [2004]

Artist: Gong

Title: Acid Motherhood

Genre: Progressive Rock, Space Rock

Country: France

Release date: 2004

Track List:

1. Ocean Of Molasses
2. Supercotton
3. Olde Fooles Game
4. Zeroina
5. Brainwash Me
6. Monstah!
7. Bible Study
8. Bazuki Logix
9. Waving
10. Makototen
11. Schwitless In Molasses

Let me get one thing out of the way: this album has got a completely idiotic cover art. The inlay isn't much better, though:

Seriously, it'd be much more suitable for some comedy grindcore album, and it was deservedly included into the "Weirdest Ever Covers" list. Fortunately, the music on "Acid Motherhood" is pretty cool and not idiotic at all. Looks like someone has already reviewed it better than I ever could, so I can only add that I wish this album was purely instrumental - other than that, it's great. If the Wikipedia article is to be believed, the line-up on this album consists of a merger of latter-day Gong, University of Errors (guitarist Josh Pollock), and Acid Mothers Temple (Kawabata Makoto and Cotton Casino), and when it comes to the concept, it continues the usual Gong topics of aliens and alternate realities.

March Of Heroes / Phragments / Across The Rubicon - "Scontrum Act VIII" [2008]

Artist: March Of Heroes / Phragments / Across The Rubicon

Title: Scontrum Act VIII

Genre: Martial Industrial

Country: France / Slovakia / Poland
Year: 2008

Track List:

1. March Of Heroes - Stalingrad... Our Last Hope Act 1
2. March Of Heroes - Stalingrad... Our Last Hope Act 2
3. March Of Heroes - Stalingrad... Our Last Hope Act 3
4. Phragments - Utopia
5. Phragments - Eruption
6. Phragments - Tragedy
7. Across The Rubicon - A Soldier
8. Across The Rubicon - Survivors
9. Across The Rubicon - A Ghost

"Scontrum Act VIII" is the 8th installation in the "Scontrum" series of (mostly) 3-way splits released by a Poland-based label War Office Propaganda. This particular split features March Of Heroes, Phragments and Across The Rubicon - from France, Slovakia and Poland respectively. "Act VIII" stands out of other martial industrial compilations because its participants aren't only making good music but also certainly aren't Nazi Germany sympathizers which are too commonly found in martial industrial and neofolk scene. Well, at least March of Heroes and Phragment certainly aren't. I don't know much about Across the Rubicon, but their part of the split is the most interesting music wise. As for the download link, try this Chinese site (it isn't hard to locate the download button there ;))

Bring Me Eternity - "Draw The Echo" [2013]

Artist: Bring Me Eternity

Title: Draw The Echo

Genre: Symphonic/Progressive Metal

Country: France
Year: 2013

Track List:

1. Road Of Dreams
2. Deception
3. Vanity
4. Silent Memory
5. Pride Of A World

Bring Me Eternity are an young female-fronted metal band from Grenoble, formed in 2011 and released their 1st EP in autumn 2013.On their facebook page, they list their influences as "Within Temptation, System Divide, Epica, Betraying The Martyrs, Delain, Amaranthe", but I'd rather compare them to another progressive/sympho-metal band with a somewhat similar name and a rather good-looking vocalist - Echoes Of Eternity. Both bands put a lot of effort into their work, but their song structures are a bit needlessly complex because of that. However "Draw The Echo" still sounds quite good, considering it's only a debut release. The production is crystal clear, and Lyriel Bena (the vocalist) has a nice voice. The music itself is a mix between standard gothic/symphonic metal, and so-called "modern metal"/metalcore. All the lyrics are in English, which is a plus for me - because, as you know, I don't like Francophone metal bands in general.

As of now, Bring Me Eternity are virtually unknown outside France, and even there not many people have heard about them. They're an actively touring band, though, so this situation may change in the near future. They certainly deserve to be more known outside France as well, and I hope this entry will help it at least a bit. By the way, "Draw The Echo" is now officially available off bandcamp for "pay-what-you-want" price (I personally gave 3€ to the band, but you can get it for free, if you wish), so I think it'd be OK to post it here too:

Download

P.S. Am I only one who thinks that Lyriel has very beautiful legs? Seems like she thinks so too(at least judging from her photos, she apparently loves to wear very short dresses, and prefers mini shorts for her stage appearances):

Pulsar - "The Strands Of The Future" [1976]

Artist: Pulsar

Title: The Strands Of The Future
Genre: Progressive Rock
Country: France
Release date: 1976

Track List:

1. The Strands Of The Future
2. Flight
3. Windows
4. Fool's Failure

Second album by Pulsar, which is in my opinion better than their debut "Pollen". Excellent progressive/space rock, would be a perfect soundtrack for some French sci-fi movie or cartoon like "Les Maîtres du Temps" (I don't like its original soundtrack, except for the closing theme). After "The Strands Of The Future" Pulsar released one more album called "Halloween" (which wasn't as popular as their first two albums due to rise of punk rock scene, which seriously diminished the fanbase of classic rock), and then split up. Personally I found "Halloween" not as interesting as either "Pollen" or "Strands of the Future", but it's still definitely worth listening (won't post it here, though).

Pulsar - "Pollen" [1975]

Artist: Pulsar

Title: Pollen
Genre: Progressive Rock
Country: France
Release date: 1975

Track List:

1. Pulsar
2. Apaisement
3. Puzzle / Omen
4. Le Cheval de Syllogie
5. Pollen

And one more classic progressive/space rock release that may appeal to those who liked "Martian Chronicles" by Solaris. Listen to the whole album on youtube:

P.S. If you want to have "Pollen" on your HD as MP3, just use Google blogs search - I'm sure it was already posted in a lot of blogs.

Art Zoyd - "Le Mariage Du Ciel Et L'Enfer" [1984]

Artist: Art Zoyd

Title: Le Mariage Du Ciel Et L'Enfer
Genre: Avant-Prog
Country: France
Release date: 1984

Track List:

1. Sortie 134 - Part 1
2. Cryogenèse - Rêve Artificiel
3. IO 1
4. IO 2
5. IO 3
6. Mouvance 2
7. Mouvance 1
8. Cryogenèse - Les Portes du Futur
9. Sortie 134 - Part 2

Along with Univers Zero, Art Zoyd are probably one of the best known bands in the whole Rock In Opposition movement. Most of their albums aren't that hard to find, so I won't post their complete discography here. However, I'd like to post one of their lesser known, but nevertheless great albums - "Le Mariage Du Ciel Et L'Enfer". Recorded in 1984, this album isn't as "electronic" as their later releases, but no less "dark" and experimental. According to the release notes, "Le Mariage Du Ciel Et L'Enfer" is actually music for some ballet by Roland Petit. Unfortunately, my knowledge of ballet is very limited, so I won't comment on this...

Download

Nebelnest - "Zepto" [2006]

Artist: NeBeLNeST

Title: ZePTo
Label: Cuneiform Records
Genre: Avant-Prog
Country: France
Release date: 2006

Track List:

1. Pillars of Birth
2. Manjnuns
3. The Old Ones
4. The Thing in the Walls
5. Fabric of Reality
6. De Thriumpho Naturae
7. Do What Thou Wilt
8. Station 9

Another French avant-prog band, strongly influenced by Rock In Opposition movement (but significantly heavier than most RIO bands). Here's their third and most recent album, "ZePTo" (capitalization rule - all consonants are in capitals, unlike the vowels). Besides the obvious references to Crowley ("Do What Thou Wilt") and Lovecraft ("The Old Ones"), the album has a strong futuristic feel, and creates a "cosmic" atmosphere. Happy Cosmonautics Day, BTW!

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Magma - "Mekanïk Destruktïw Kommandöh" [1973]

Artist: Magma

Title: Mekanïk Destruktïw Kommandöh
Genre: Avant-Prog, Zeuhl
Country: France
Release date: 1973

Track List:

1. Hortz Fur Dëhn Stekëhn West
2. Ïma Süri Dondaï
3. Kobaïa Is de Hündïn
4. Da Zeuhl Wortz Mekanïk
5. Nebëhr Gudahtt
6. Mekanïk Kommandöh
7. Kreühn Köhrmahn Iss de Hündïn

...And speaking of Magma - here's their most well-known album, "Mekanïk Destruktïw Kommandöh", released in 1973. MDK is considered to be a seminal work for the whole zeuhl genre, and a very original release even by nowadays standards. At first listening, my impression was like "WTF am I listening to??!!", but after ~10 re-listenings it became like: "Wait... but this is great!!!". Need I say more? Here you can read a detailed review of MDK and an explanation of it's sci-fi concept. I can only add that the only downside of this release, IMO, is that the Kobaïan language turned out not quite as exotic as I expected. Bands singing in made-up languages always fascinated me, but Kobaïan sounds quite like Dutch or some weird German dialect, not something that I would expect from an extraterrestrial language...

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Shub-Niggurath - "Les Morts Vont Vite" [1986]

Artist: Shub-Niggurath

Title: Les Morts Vont Vite
Genre: Avant-Prog
Country: France
Release date: 1986

Track List:

1. Incipit Tragedia
2. Cabine 67
3. Yog Sothoth
4. La Ballade De Lénore
5. Delear Prius
6. J'ai Vu Naguère En Peinture Les Harpies Ravissant Le Repas De Phynée

"SHUB-NIGGURATH was formed in 1983 and consisted of six musicians: Allan Ballaud on bass, percussionist Franck Coulaud, Frank Fromy on guitar and percussion, Jean-Luc Herve on harmonium, piano and organ, vocalist Ann Stewart, and a trombone/bass player Veronuque Verdier. The band released their first untitled demo on 1985 and got good feedback from critics. The promising debut album, "Les Morts Von Vite", was released on Musea label in 1987. The album received good reviews and is their finest moment: it caught the band at the peak of their creativity. Musea reissued this album on CD in 1997, including two rare bonus tracks. The debut sold well and later, in 87, SHUB NIGGURATH's song appeared on Musea's Zeuhl compilation "Enneade", a tribute to the legacy of Magma. [...] SHUB-NIGGURATH's best album is the debut, and it's also the best place to start exploring their music. However, their career has been fairly consistent and the other two albums are quality efforts. If you like dark, brooding mix of RIO and Zeuhl you will like SHUB-NIGGURATH. their avant-ish dark prog with a sharp edge is both unique and challenging"

While I can't say this album reminds me of Magma, it's definitely a classic and should be recommended to anyone who wants to hear some progressive rock that's really hard to get into. The atmosphere on "Les Morts Vont Vite" is quite dark, but what else to expect from a Lovecraftian band?..

Download

Komintern - "Le Bal Du Rat Mort" [1971]

Artist: Komintern

Title: Le Bal Du Rat Mort
Genre: Avant-Prog
Country: France
Release date: 1971

Track List:

1. Bal Pour Un Rat Vivant
2. Hommage Au Marie De Tours
3. Petite Musique Pour Un Blockhaus
4. Pongistes De Tous Les Pays
5. Fou, Roi, Pantin

One more album released in 1971 that was influenced by early hyper-progressive rock and radical politics of May 1968. Komintern, a French band formed in 1970 and disbanded in 1975, are often labeled as "the first Rock In Opposition band". While I can't fully agree with that (as the whole RIO thing started in 1978), Komintern definitely were one of the most important precursors to the whole RIO movement. Can't believe "Le Bal Du Rat Mort" was released in 1971!

P.S. Some members of Komintern were also active in an avant-garde act called Red Noise. While I couldn't find any of their recordings, their name sounds promising, and I wonder if they sounded at least remotely similar to the earliest 70s' industrial acts. The whole thing of mixing avant-garde (anti-music) and radical political imagery strongly reminds me of Throbbing Gristle, early Laibach and the early industrial scene in general. German Oak, Faust and Neu! were called "proto-industrial" on several occasions, but I think it can be applied to a much wider spectrum of 70s' avant-prog.

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A.n.K.h. // - "Industry" [2008]

Artist: A.n.K.h.
Title: Industry
Genre: Industrial / Dark Ambient
Country: France
Release date: 2008

Track List:

1. The Evil
2. Alone
3. La Secta Sin Nombre
4. Full Moon
5. Afraid
6. Kairo
7. Fear
8. Armand Est Mort (A.n.K.h vs Voiker Fullcarp)
9. Mymetic Area
10. Sopor Aeternus

This French dark electronic/industrial project exists since 1996, and has released all the albums under Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 2.0. The music may seem boring for some, but is good enough for me, and it's even better since it's free!

Download

Paris Violence - "L'Âge de Glace" [2001]

Artist: Paris Violence
Title: L'Age de Glace
Label: Islika Productions
Genre: Gothic Rock / Post-Punk / Streetpunk
Country: France
Release date: 2001

Track list:

1. Le Crépuscule Des Idoles
2. Douche Froide
3. Psykhouchka
4. Troisieme Nuit Dans La Bagnole
5. Raison D'Etat
6. Dans La Tourmente
7. Non Conforme
8. Dur D'Etre Un Ange
9. Demi-Saison
10. Aurore Glaciale

If you can't get enough of Amesoeurs' first and only album, here's some more French music which has very simular atmosphere. Meet Paris Violence, my favourite French rock band.

Paris Violence started in 1994 as oi/skinhead rock band, but their sound quickly became much more darker and gothic-influenced. Now they're playing an unique mix of streetpunk and gothic metal, with a lot of keyboards. As for "L'Âge de Glace" ("The Ice Age"), it's roughly 50/50 mix of punk and gothic rock/coldwave (I guess we can call it "oi-wave" ;)) with lots of keyboard too. Tracks like "Dur d'etre un ange" ("Hard to be an angel") even remind me of synthpop - probably because of vocals.

And where else can you find an oi/streetpunk band with lyrics influenced by writings of Baudelaire, Stirner, and Nietzsche? Yes, "Le Crépuscule Des Idoles" means "Twilight of the Idols"... and "Psykhouchka" is indeed about the punitive psychiatry! I'll upload the complete discography of this unique band a little later. Such a shame they're so little known outside France, and even I found them just by accident...

Download

Amesoeurs - "Amesoeurs" [2009]

Artist: Amesoeurs
Title: Amesoeurs
Label: Code 666 / Profound Lore
Genre: Depressive Black Metal / Post-Rock / Gothic Rock
Country: France
Release date: 2009

Track list:

1. Gas in Veins
2. Les Ruches Malades
3. Heurt
4. Recueillement
5. Faux Semblants
6. I XIII V XIX XV V XXI XVIII XIX – IX XIX – IV V I IV
7. Trouble (Éveils Infâmes)
8. Video Girl
9. La Reine Trayeuse
10. Amesoeurs
11. Au Crépuscule de Nos Rêves

Lineup:
Neige: Vocals, Guitar, Bass
Audrey: Vocals, Piano
Fursy: Guitar, Bass
Winterhalter: Drums
Recorded in Klangsmiede Studio E during Winter 2008-2009 By Markus Stock.
"We, amesoeurs, are the children of this sad and metallic century; receptors capturing the aggressive and unhealthy waves of the industrial era. We have always been equally disgusted and fascinated by everything relating to cities and urban lifestyle, that is to say the endless rows of grey and threatening buildings, the throng of souls that they accomodate, the perpetual motion, the danger, the winding alleyways, the smoky and dubious bars, old graffitis, train stations, casinos and other hostile gaming rooms, the freezing neon lights, nightlife, technology, futuristic buildings, sex, depravation, poverty, anxiety, filth, the suffocating smells of pollution combined with sweat, shit and piss.
Human beings have been perverted, swallowed up by urban lifestyle, they have sold their souls cheap. We live in a hell made of metal and concrete where frightened men get lost and merge into one another like the insects of a gigantic hive. Shadows amongst shadows, they more or less carry out their shitty jobs and then drown their issues and sorrow in intoxication. Television, booze, cigs, and constrained laughs are the ways to forget... The number of degenerates and depressives is increasing each day, narcotics are the latest fashion candies, streets are swarming with junkies and repulsive hobos, AIDS has infiltrated syringes left on public benches. It flows along with drugs, sperm and tears into the veins of the Metropolis.
We are neither intellectuals nor politicians and don't have any message to pass on. We just want to FEEL, contemplate and ECHO the sound that the modern world and its absurdities have inspired us with. Amesoeurs is a spit, the only way we have to spew out the anxiety and frustration tied to the difficulties of existence and the pursuit of happiness in our modern society" - from band's myspace.

This release gave Amesoeurs a great popularity, but unfortunately the band had split up shortly after. The mastermind of the project was Neige (you may know him as a member of Alcest, Mortifera, Forgotten Woods and several other bands, and as a former member of Peste Noire). The vocals are mostly female, done by Audrey.

While having certain influences of black metal, overall it's definitely not BM, and more close to gothic/post-rock with an overwhelmingly melancholic atmosphere. The sound is very "cinematic" and suitable for a soundtrack to any "technoir" movie. Have you seen the animated movie called "Renaissance", for example? It's French too, done in black and white (just like the cover of this album), and uses the dystopian industrial/cyberpunk aesthetics. I like such kind of aesthetics a lot, and I'm thinking of making an AMV using the music by Amesoeurs and video samples from "Renaissance" ;)

Finally, I should make a conclusion that this mix of French pop, gothic rock, shoegaze and black metal has fairly deserved it's popularity. Sadly there wouldn't be any more albums, but we still can enjoy this one. Just like in case of I Shalt Become, I wouldn't place a download link here, but you can search it for yourself.