Misanthrope
Recueil d'Ecueils: les épaves... et autres oeuvres interdites

I had heard exactly two songs by this band... so it seemed right to immediately buy myself a nice box set containing three CDs.
Surprise!!!

First of all, they are French, and THEY SING IN FRENCH (the tracks I had heard were in English)... crazy people.
Being then defined as a death-progressive band, the singing must necessarily be in growl, otherwise what kind of death is it?

I imagine some of you have an idea of how growl in English is almost incomprehensible. But have you ever heard a growl in French??? I hope you never have the misfortune of experiencing this...
We all know that French is a spitty language, but the present S.A.S. de l'argilière, no matter how hard he tries, makes a really ridiculous figure, especially on the ps and ss, transforming all the lyrics into a long and unbearable spitty litany.

And the music? Well, if the tracks I had heard were beautiful (for the record, they came from Visionnaire, a really wonderful CD), halfway between melodic death, gothic sprinkles, and a slight progressive aura, the simplicity of these tracks is disheartening.

The first CD seems to be a collection of demo songs, I use "seems" because it's not well specified. Between some grind outbursts (??) and ELEMENTARY death metal boredom will soon take hold of you, and all the scenic and non-scenic libertine ideas they want to show us in the lyrics (contained in a libertine booklet) will be to no avail.

Horrible production and unlistenable songs even in the live CD... a real struggle to get to the end.

Things improve with the third CD Libertine Humiliations, decent production and some nice tracks (L'Ecume des Chouans above all) that still aren't worth the 17 euros of this cumbersome box set, also because in today's metal it's unacceptable to make songs with three measly palm-muting chords.

The other positive notes are the technical skills of the members that (do not) earn them the adjective progressive. I was really amazed by bassist Jean Jacques Moreac and the drummer of the first CD, almost on the level of a certain Gene Hoglan, listen to believe.
I still recommend you get yourself Visionnaire because it is really very beautiful. Only for die-hard fans (assuming there are any).