In the spirit of trying new things, I have decided to do a monthly feature on new music from around the world. Finding myself growing increasingly bored with the same old stuff, I began scouring the planet for new and interesting sounds you won’t typically hear anywhere in the States. Today, I will be reviewing the latest release from Sidilarsen, “On va tous crever” (We are all going to die).
Sidilarsen are an electro metal band from France. I happened to hear about them while watching a music video on Youtube for another one of my favorite French metal bands Mass Hysteria. I forgot to turn autoplay off and luckily for me I listened enough to fall in love. The song was “Comme on Vibe” and it was insanely catchy. The type of song that you could head bang and dance to all at the same time. Since their formation in 1997 they have built up a strong following based off this style of catchy “danceable” metal that mixes electro beats with energetic and bouncy guitar riffs. It’s a unique sound that generally makes you feel energized and excited. On their latest release however, something seems to have changed in the way these guys are writing. Without even completely understanding all of the lyrics, one thing can be certain on this album….these guys are pissed off.
On Va tous crever is much heavier and angrier than their preceding releases Dancefloor Bastards (2016) and Chatterbox (2014). I don’t speak French, but the music really seems to show an underlying level of frustration. You can hear it in the hard breakdowns and aggressive way this music is presented. Songs like Money Game and God’s Got Guns are absolutely brutal. A quick lyric search shows moments in English that describe how they view the world around them, for example on Gods Got Guns they say “God’s got guns, we can’t be proud of this Europa. God’s got guns, it seems alright to white America”. I get the feeling that this might be a politicaly charged album along the lines of Rage against the machine. It’s something most people in this world can relate to, no matter where you live. This seems to be backed up by their website as describe the new albums creation on the basis of a society in decline. They consider this new work to be a “revolution” and it certainly shows. I highly recommend this album and I don’t think the language barrier will be a problem as they music itself is enough to get the message across.
Album Highlights
Money Game, God’s got guns, Start up nation, Dans tes bras
For more on Sidilarsen be sure to check out:
Coverage by Derek Jones
