Musically, the French quartet—brothers Joe Duplantier [vocals, guitar] and Mario Duplantier [drums], Christian Andreu [guitar], and Jean-Michel Labadie [bass]—gracefully swings between quaking and quivering guitars, mind-bending percussion, chillingly elegant melodies, and cosmic atmospherics. The band has always dealt in extremes, uncovering light in darkness and finding beauty in heaviness.
“We always choose the hard way,” Joe smiles. “We literally put the walls together and fine-tuned every aspect of the space. It was worth it at the end because we had our own place to make music.”
The group has challenged itself and heavy music since forming in 1996. Their 2012 offering, L’Enfant Sauvage, garnered unanimous critical applause courtesy of Pitchfork, Q Magazine, Alternative Press, The Guardian and more. Metallica, Slayer, and Mastodon have all invited the band on tour in addition to show-stopping festival performances at Download Festival, Rock on the Range, Slipknot’s KNOTFEST, and many others. They’ve earned fans in everybody from James Hetfield and Slash to Deftones and Lamb of God.
“I hope people enjoy the trip,” Joe leaves off. “I hope they can disconnect from the chaos of their lives for an hour and have a nice moment of raw emotion and energy. Even though we went through a hard time, we put everything we could into this. It’s the pure essence of what we are now.”
