Haunting, discordant and deeply unsettling, ‘Les Maîtres Fous’ (‘The Mad Masters’) was written by French post-metal collective Year of No Light in response to French filmmaker Jean Rouch’s controversial 1950’s docufiction of the same name.
Captured live in 2015, this arresting piece of music is now available to hear for the first time in a decade.
Commissioned by Musée Du Quai Branly in Paris for their 2012 ‘L’Invention Du Sauvage’ exhibition, trance-metal pioneers Year of No Light approached the ritual practices of the Hauka movement as depicted in the film and responded with their uniquely hypnotic heaviness.
Performed only twice, once at the exhibition on the 6th January, 2012 and again in Bordeaux on the 29th January, 2015; this release is a live recording of the second and final performance of ‘Les Maîtres Fous’. Whilst Year of No Light have a long history of collaboration with forward-thinking filmmakers and visual artists, the sensitivity of this documentary’s problematic subject matter and the intensity of the band’s performance made this performance both a physically and emotionally demanding experience; something that can be keenly felt upon listening.
Founded in September 2001 by a collection of Bordeaux’s heavy scene stalwarts as an ongoing side project encompassing elements of sludge metal and shoegaze, Year of No Light released their debut album, Nord, in 2006 to critical acclaim. The subsequent years however saw a significant lineup change with the band replacing their vocalist with a third guitarist to become a fully instrumental sextet incorporating aspects of black metal, drone electronica and dark ambient into their already formidable sound.
2010’s four track epic Ausserwelt and the 2013 follow up Tocsin saw Year of No Light distilling their punishing sound even further; stalling the tempo to a glacial crawl and tuning guitars ever downwards to new uncharted depths. Consolamentum, the band’s first full-length release in nine years and their first with Pelagic Records, brought the outfit’s crushing double-drumming percussion to the fore as a masterclass in dynamic control saw Year of No Light embrace the highest highs and the lowest lows of the intervening years.
Now approaching their 25th anniversary, ‘Les Maître Fous’ is a pressing reminder that, despite the band’s long and ongoing journey, Year of No Light have never been afraid to experiment, to take risks, to square up to life’s ugliness and look it straight in the eye.
FOR FANS OF
Neurosis, Cult of Luna, SWANS, ISIS, Russian Circles, My Bloody Valentine, Chelsea Wolfe
