Year: 2024
Label: Steinklang Industries

French Regard Extreme are back with another slab of their medieval neoclassical – or call it what you want – following 2021’s Ars Veterum (reviewed here) and 2022’s compilation of reworked older tracks, Legacy (reviewed here).

In our review for Ars Veterum, we called it a competent but somewhat demanding piece of music, largely due to the vocals – which can be called either an acquired taste or downright grating. So how are things this time around?

Better, I’m happy to say. Although sole member Fabien Nicault’s vocals in their monastic style still take quite a bit of getting used to, they are used somewhat more sparsely on this album. This alone makes Eco Solemnis easier to approach than Ars Veterum. And maybe it’s just me growing used to his vocal style, but I don’t find them quite as grating as before.

By and large, Regard Extreme’s style remains similar to Ars Veterum: neoclassical post-industrial with plenty of medieval elements, ranging from instrumentation to compositions. However, it also seems like the project has taken a step back to its more martial, orchestral neoclassical roots. There are moments of clearly synthesized nature, and moments of orchestral bombast offsetting the more medieval moments. In a way, this is an amalgamation of old and new Regard Extreme, although ultimately the new wins in the mix.

This, too, works for the benefit of the album, making it more versatile and multifaceted. Visages of medieval monasteries and castles with banners swaying from the towers are offset with passages of more belligerent and ominous orchestrations. It’s not at all hard to say that Regard Extreme has taken a step forward from Ars Veterum.

And, would you believe it, despite all I said about the vocals above, one of my absolute favourite tracks on the album is Remember, precisely due to its vocal melody! This melancholic song powerfully conjures images of something lost, an age of bygone glory barely remembered.

There are still things that slightly irk me about Regard Extreme – by which I mainly mean those vocals, from time to time – but within this new(er) style for the French project, it is moving in the right direction. Sometimes a step back is a step forward, and this is definitely true in Regard Extreme’s case.

Visit Regard Extreme on their official website, Bandcamp, Facebook or Instagram