Audrey Horne
Le Fol

Sometimes chance is truly bizarre. The day after I finished watching the last episode of the second season of Twin Peaks (and still had the diabolical laughter of Agent Cooper clearly in my mind), I went to a record store and what do I find? A CD by a band called Audrey Horne (the name of a character from the series that I loved immensely): naturally, I rushed to buy it, driven mostly by the name. To be honest, I was somewhat familiar with the band already, both because of the previous album ("No Hay Banda", a title likely also stemming from a Lynch cinematic creation, "Mulholland Drive"), and because of its members, who come from bands like Enslaved, Gorgoroth, and others, who in this new group abandon their black metal personas to embrace a different genre.

In this "Le Fol", their music is a hard rock/post-grunge with twilight hues, energetic, strong, labyrinthine, and solid, owing much to Alice In Chains, A Perfect Circle, Queens Of The Stone Age, Faith No More, and others. Some structures feel familiar, some choruses are very (too?) immediate, there are a few missteps, yet they deliver an album that can be listened to without issues, beautiful and touching in certain moments, direct, intense, and enjoyable.

There are several tracks worth mentioning, but they all heavily play on the singer Toschie's voice, nasal, raspy, yet very melodic, on the dark hues provided by the keyboards, and on the booming and enveloping guitar riffs.

"Jaws", "Last Call" (notable for its chorus), the powerful single "Threshold" (where certain guitar parts remind me directly of the more "Tool-esque" A Perfect Circle), "Monster", "Afterglow", "Hell Hath No Fury" and "I Wish You Hell" are the moments I feel most inclined to highlight, but out of these, "Bright Lights" stands out. Divided into two parts, one calm, serene, and understated, the other violent, angry, a release valve for pent-up tension, this track perhaps best represents the two faces of the band, the more intimate and the aggressive, furious side, thanks to the beautiful structure with which it was conceived and the effort put into it by the band members (who, in terms of technique, are no novices).

We don't have a masterpiece on our hands, but a good album for sure, a sincere effort made by musicians with guts, a listen not merely for background but which demands attention. Only in this way will one appreciate the quality of Audrey Horne and their "Le Fol".

Ps: The album would be rated 7, *** and a half, but since there’s no half vote, I give *** because of a few missteps and a track like "Pretty Girls Make Graves" that too blatantly references Alice In Chains.