Several MetalSucks detractors have sent us messages recently asking why we haven’t called out Alcest frontman Neige for his past association with known white supremacist black metal band Peste Noire while we’ve been quick to do so with other musicians and bands tied to hateful ideologies. The answer is simple: Neige has already publicly addressed the issue, and rather than claiming he/Alcest aren’t “political,” using linguistic gymnastics to skirt around the issue, blaming the “free speech” goblins or whining about PC culture like so many musicians with similar past associations have, he was direct, concise, apologetic, and left no doubts about where his ideologies lie. You can read Neige’s statement on the matter here if you like. It has nothing to do with MetalSucks playing favorites or being willing to do anything for a click, as there are plenty of favorites and veritable click farms we have taken to task and no longer cover on this site.

With that out of the way, Alcest have a new track called “Protection” and it’s pretty great. If you’ve been following Alcest’s career you know what to expect from the blackgaze outfit; shimmering guitar passages, reverb-washed vocals, a rollercoaster of dynamics from the whole band, and an uncanny ear for melody within standard black metal harmonic constructs. This one’s got something extra in the way of atypically heavy riffs, about which Neige offers the following:

“‘Protection’ is the first track I wrote for Spiritual Instinct. It’s probably one of our most heavy, spontaneous songs. It is about inner conflict, the tension between the spiritual and darker sides of a person, facing your own anguishes in order to embrace them and then fight them. Like the other tracks on the album, writing it was a very cathartic, healing process for me.”

“Protection” comes from Alcest’s forthcoming fifth full-length album, Spiritual Instinct, set for release on October 25.