The day of Friday, April 25 was rich in outings expected for metal: difficult to miss the albums of Ghost and Landmvrks as the media spoke about it, making the other outings of this day more confidential than they were in reality. Among these outings was the new album, which are also eagerly awaited, POINT MORTParisian popcore group. Without being the most noticed album among the outings of the day, it is easily ranked in the list of most remarkable because of all the qualities found there, in particular the diversity of styles and their mastery.
The opening piece, “ॐ Ajar”, sets the tone: electro notes and first indistinct cries, as pronounced by creatures that surround us when we listen to music, immerse us in the world of this album with an unusual immersion force. Then arrives “An Ungrateful Wreck of Our Ghost Bodies” on which the group suggests its striking force: the song of Sam Pillay is mainly saturated on this title, while allowing itself some incursions on the side of clear song and spoken song. Simon Belot’s battery is murdered and fast, making you want to run and look everywhere at the same time. The bass of Damien Hubert and the guitars of Aurélien Sauzereau and Olivier Millot establish the climate of anxiety, concern and darkness of the album. But if it is so dark, it is to better seduce the public by his darkness and the stories he tells, as well as by his qualities among which the mastery of all the techniques used. The song is particularly remarkable, alternating in the threads between saturated song, clear song, sometimes spoken song sometimes close to rap, always with brilliance and balance between the different atmospheres of the album.
If the diversity of styles present can sometimes mislead the new little familiar ears of the group, the video clip of “The Bent Neck Lady” can conquer all audiences: the story of a little girl who did not grow and ends up meeting the lady with a leaning coup is told without frills, in intensity and despair, and allows to fully take the measure of the song as well as the mastery with which it is executed. The context is planted with gentleness and acoustic guitar before the light hopping song becomes more and more worrying during the little girl’s trip. The rhythm of the story is also that of the evolution of the title and the diptych is assessed as a whole, thus creating a unique, impressive and terrifying work, where all the cursors are pushed to the maximum.
After these ghost stories, “Skinned Teeth” suggests the rage that inhabits the members of the group and suggests intense concerts. However, it seems more free and apparently less ordered, impression reinforced by the clip in which the group breaks many objects to exteriorize its anger. Closer to punk, this title relies more on efficiency in less than three minutes to contrast with the two previous pieces, the duration of which is close to ten minutes.
-Then comes the title song, “the point of no return”, which crystallizes a moment of awakening and ultimate awareness after a long sleep not really restorative. The cry « Let it out » Then resonates as an exhortation with other cries and the exteriorization of emotions. After which, it is impossible to go back since we have reached a desire to advance without hiding our emotions.
“IECUR” revives the long songs and deploys his anger in just over eight minutes, showing the jersey that comes after the awareness of the previous song. Here again, the intensities vary, between the great sweetness of the clear song accompanied by an acoustic guitar and a softer battery, and great anger of the saturated song accompanied by all the musicians for fast rhythms, before the clear song and the saturated song are overlapping to give more relief to both.
Last song from the album, “Der” is gently resumes with a clear song closer to pop, quickly joined by all the instruments of the group, then alternates between the moments of sweetness pop and the more metal brute moments. The title works as a synthesis of the styles addressed in the album and ends with cries of sadness tinged with regret, emotion expressed wonderfully throughout the disc.
