Metal Monday: France, The Metal Up And Comer

posted in: Rock

Throughout the life of the Metal Monday column, I’ve written posts about what countries produce the best metal. No real surprise that the focus of these posts fell on Norway, Sweden, The UK and the US“after all, they’re the countries with some of the most prominent metal subcultures and scenes. One country that isn’t getting its due diligence, however, is France. Yes, that France. In the last ten years, France has made huge strides in producing powerhouse metal bands on a consistent basis.

Prior to the twenty-first century, France wasn’t exactly known for it’s metal acts, especially on an international level, but the ones they had were pretty fantastic”the monstrous avant-garde black metal band Blut Aus Nord and the consistently great heavy/power metal band Nightmare come to mind. Beyond that? Well, there wasn’t much else. Fortunately for everyone, that’s changing.

Post 2000? French metal band explosion. Probably the most notable band to hail from France at this point is Gojira. The band has seen a huge rise in popularity in the last few years, since their mammoth 2008 release The Way of All Flesh. Another truly pioneering and progressive band from France who is rapidly gaining popularity is black metal/shoegaze band Alcest. The band had one of the better metal records of 2010 and are looking to release another full-length in 2012. Of course, there are many other bands who may not be as internationally popular as Gojira and Alcest but are still fantastic”and hail from France as well. To name-drop a few other great French metal bands: MINUSHUMAN, Hacride, Gorod, Deathspell Omega, Adagio, etc.

We even have a few bands here on OurStage. You probably already know Danforth”OurStage metal veterans whom we’ve covered numerous times on the blog (because they’re awesome). One band you’re probably less familiar with, however, is The Bridal Procession. The Bridal Procession belong to the latest breed of precise, technical progressive death metal bands. Near the end of December 2010, The Bridal Procession released their first full-length, Astronomical Dimensions, on Siege of Amida Records and are currently in the studio tracking another record. Definitely a band to keep an eye on, they’re poised to do big things.

If you’re not yet hip to all these French bands, you best quit slacking and hop on the bandwagon. Check out some tunes by Danforth and The Bridal Procession below, then let us know in the comments what French metal you’re jamming to: