Music review: Igorrr – Amen 2025 (Metal Blade Records) 9/10
Igorrr – Amen 2025 (Metal Blade Records) 9/10
After more than twenty years of sonic experimentation and impossible fusions, Gautier Serre returns with Amen, the latest chapter of the Igorrr project. The album marks another crucial milestone in the journey of an artist who has always challenged musical conventions, blending extreme metal (Serre’s deep-rooted foundation), opera, classical music, trip hop, breakcore, oriental modal tones, and experimental sounds into a unique and unclassifiable whole.
Serre reminds me of what Einstürzende Neubauten once were: despite operating in very different cultural and musical contexts, both share a fierce commitment to sonic experimentation and breaking musical conventions. Their ability to push the boundaries of sound makes them indispensable figures in experimental music. Despite temporal and cultural distances, both Einstürzende Neubauten with the “organized noise” of Perpetuum Mobile and Igorrr with the “organized chaos” of Amen show how these concepts are universal principles of sound experimentation. Both transform chaos and apparent noise into complex, articulated compositions, proving that creative madness transcends eras while preserving its essence. Musical experimentation, therefore, knows no temporal boundaries but evolves while staying true to the idea of transforming chaos and noise into art.
Of course, it may or may not be to everyone’s taste…
The Igorrr Project
Serre has described Igorrr (the name derives from Igor, the eerie and iconic assistant of Dr. Frankenstein, symbolizing darkness, eccentricity, and experimentation) as an “experimental courtyard”: a musical laboratory where experimentation is continuous and limitless, and the creative process is central. It’s not a traditional band, but a place of trial, error, and sonic play. The goal is to keep the pure essence of music alive by working for hours and years in the studio on energetic and visionary material.
Amen
The album’s greatest strength, consistent since 2017, is Serre’s production. Despite the project’s electronic roots, moments where traditional instruments emerge — guitars, basses, percussion, and even baroque instruments like the harp — sound incredibly organic, never mechanical or programmed. The arrangement and mixing are impeccable, allowing each sound to have a clear impact without overlapping others, especially in the more relaxed parts close to trip-hop or ambient.
Serre introduces unconventional instruments like theremin, excavator, anvil, and even a gong he built himself, creating soundscapes never heard before. He also recorded a choir in an ancient monastery in Nice, a complex but rewarding experience that produced touching and powerful moments. Important collaborations, such as with Scott Ian (Anthrax) and Trey Spruance (Mr. Bungle), further enrich the sonic mosaic.
Vocal Evolution: JB Le Bail
Since 2021, JB Le Bail has become a fundamental part of Igorrr, bringing a versatile and unsettling vocal style. For Serre, the voice is an instrument without a precise intellectual meaning, a textual element contributing to the color and atmosphere of the track. Together they developed a shared language, without conventional lyrics, balancing texture, groove, and rhythm.
Album Analysis
Headbutt: An explosion of Igorrr-like madness, starting from an almost hypnotic calm with single G piano beats before erupting into furious blast beats, crazy arpeggios, choirs, and JB Le Bail’s dark voice. It culminates in an operatic moment with mezzo-soprano Marthe Alexandre, ending with a piano devastated by the excavator.
Limbo: The album’s most classical track, opening with Gregorian chants and 19th-century opera, ending immersed in brutal death metal, climaxing in a pure sonic agony explosion.
Blastbeat Falafel: The most erratic and colorful moment, with Tex-Mex riffs, Turkish saz and Middle Eastern rabab, Erlend Caspersen’s lightning-fast bass, and a surreal mix of cowbell, hand claps, synths, and choirs. A sort of Arab playground in music form.
ADHD: A glitchy madness full of buttery and explosive sounds simulating the relentless struggle of a hyperactive brain, the perfect soundtrack for those who “think a lot, but very differently.” The associated AI-generated video is an equally chaotic visual collage.
2020: Eleven powerful seconds — a cough on a plane carrying the symbolic weight of the pandemic. The album reflects heavily on this dark period of our recent history.
Infestis: A doom-metal track that feels almost like a human story about the pandemic, with complex timings and an oppressive atmosphere evoking the sensation of being haunted by an evil spirit, a perfect metaphor for the devastation caused by Covid-19.
Ancient Sun: Almost devoid of metal elements, it offers evocative vocal interpretations by Marthe Alexandre and Middle Eastern sonorities, creating an atmosphere of disorientation and temporal reflection.
Pure Disproportionate Black and White Nihilism, Étude n°120, and Silence: Close the album with a darker, less playful tone dominated by fragmented and unsettling atmospheres.
Amen: A Complex and Not Always Accessible Sonic Journey
With Amen, Igorrr continues to build a personal vision of the world — a distorted and fragmented reality where music becomes a tool for deep exploration and reflection. Gautier Serre once again demonstrates his skill in blending opposing elements and making vastly different genres converse, making listening an intense and often challenging experience.
Despite its extreme and sometimes abrasive nature, the quality of production, the richness of arrangements, and the originality of ideas make Amen a must-have album for anyone who loves to push beyond the boundaries of metal and sound experimentation. It’s certainly not a record to listen to casually: the focus is technique taken to madness, and following it requires great attention… But how many albums this complex have become milestones of a genre? The first that comes to my mind is ObZen by Meshuggah.
#Igorrr #Amen #GautierSerre #MetalBladeRecords #ExtremeMetal #AvantGardeMetal #ProgressiveMetal #IndustrialMetal #ExperimentalMusic #SoundExperimentation #NoiseMusic #OrganizedChaos #OrganizedNoise #Breakcore #TripHop #Opera #ClassicalMusic #JBLeBail #EinsturzendeNeubauten #Meshuggah #MusicReview #AlbumReview #Metal2025
Enjoying the content?
Your support helps me continue creating high-quality content and means a great deal. Thank you!👉 Support my work :
Comments
Post a Comment