Alrighty, this one is coming a little late, but such a beautiful piece of music
shouldn't go unreviewed, and so I decided it needed to go online. D'un Autre
Sang (which means Of Another Blood) is the third album of the French melodic
prog metallers. It marks a milestone for the band. Making 3 albums all of excellent
quality is something very rarely done by many bands. Even if I love everything
about this album, I don't think it tops Ange Ou Démon, their
previous effort. But it's not far behind, and D'un Autre Sang certainly
contains some of the best tunes of this band.
After the intro, the opener song, Empire Virtuel, is a beautiful melodic
Prog Tune with all the ingredients like only Manigance know
how to mix and deliver. Heavy sharp riffs, melodic guitar solo, incredible vocal
lines, especially the very catchy choruses and the very good (French) lyrics.
Every single song has this heavy sharp atmosphere, unlike lots of melodic metal
acts, Manigance doesn't try to run at 200 km per hour... no,
instead they develop their songs, altering heaviness, a moody progressiveness
and those incredible melodies. As always Didier's vocals are really amazing
and emotion packed. The keyboards highlights the whole melodic and progressive
sound, while the rhythm section is perfectly containing the heaviness of the
band, even during the majestic and overly melodic guitar solos. On the lyrics
side, the songs are quite powerful and dark, sometimes depressing, like on my
favorite song of the album : Damocles, a song which treats a life slipping
away because of terminal illness. Though an incredible song, I find myself wondering
how healthy it is to sing along this song. I would have preferred a more "encouraging"
chorus, one who inspire hope instead of defeat. Okay it's a song and the band
probably wanted to tell about it a certain way (maybe even in memory of someone they were close) , and I totally
respect that. As always I find myself really liking and giving Manigance's
lyrics a lot of thoughts, probably more than on most other metal bands I listen
to, maybe because my first spoken tongue is French. The production is, like
it was the case with the previous album, crystal clear and very powerful.
If you know this band already, then I'm sure you'll arrive to the same conclusion
as I did : D'un Autre Sang is yet another masterpiece from this incredibly
talented French melodic metal band. But if you don't know Manigance
yet, this album is a very good way to get yourself acquainted with their unique
blend of Melodic Power / Prog Metal, a powerful and majestic melodic discharge.
The artwork by Jean-Pascal Fournier is much better than their previous covers,
though not my favorite painting from Jean-Pascal. I almost forgot, the CD also
contains a video track, a cover of Future World with Pretty Maids (Ronnie Atkins
at least) as special guests , performing the song as a duo, really cool, must
have been one of these memorable live moments :). Manigance
signs here a wonderful third album, and I can tell you I already look forward
to their next albums. Two thumbs up !