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Quebecois tech-death masters First Fragment have unveiled new single “Pantheum” and announced the release of new album, Gloire Éternelle, out 29th October 2021 via Unique Leader.
Watch the visualiser to ‘Pantheum’ below and pre-save Gloire Éternelle here. North American pre-orders are available via IndieMerch Store, European pre-orders at Impericon, and digital pre-orders can be found on Bandcamp.
From day one First Fragment sought to create a brand of extreme technical death metal that combined counterpoint-based riffing, neoclassical lead guitar work, power metal-inspired passages as well as flamenco & swing sections, with desire to establish their own unique voice.
Their critically-acclaimed 2016 debut album, Dasein, released through Unique Leader, was the culmination of almost 10 years of hard work and dedication to their craft. First Fragment have since perfected their sound through expanding upon their extensive musical influences, further blurring the line between flamenco-inspired technical death metal and neoclassical power metal.
The result is Gloire Éternelle, an ambitious conceptual album that is unmistakably First Fragment, yet at the same time, impossible to categorise and pigeonhole. Baroque-influenced guitar counterpoint, flamenco sections, unique slap-bass-driven swing grooves (which the band trademarked by name as “swingdowns”), face-ripping lead guitar work and bombastic drumming, combine with a highly aggressive dual vocal approach and lyrics soaked in abstract poetry (sung in French), to create the ultimate shred fest. A shred fest with soul, memorability, identity, purpose and conviction.
Gloire Éternelle track listing:
- “Gloire éternelle”
- “Solus”
- “La veuve et le martyr”
- “Pantheum”
- “De chair et de haine”
- “Sonata en Mi mineur”
- “Ataraxie”
- “Soif Brûlante”
- “In’el”
- “Mort éphémère”
