SORTILÈGE · Larmes de Héros | BLACK LP

Black vinyl, in heavy standard cover with 8 page booklet and poster. 180g vinyl.

Background information about ''

The year is 1986, and somewhere in the suburbs of Paris, five Frenchmen are busy crafting what would become one of the most essential heavy metal records ever to emerge from continental Europe. Sortilège had already proven themselves with their self-titled EP and the debut Métamorphose, but with Larmes de Héros they reached a whole new level of mastery. This is the sound of a band firing on all cylinders, absolutely confident in their own skin.

What strikes you first is how different this record sounds from virtually everything else coming out of France at the time. While their countrymen were either chasing punk-tinged rebellion or getting lost in progressive meanderings, Sortilège forged an alloy of pure, unadulterated heavy metal that owed far more to the Anglo-Saxon tradition than to anything happening in Paris. The riff work from Didier Demajean and Stéphane Dumont is simply magnificent — melodic yet razor-sharp, epic without ever becoming bloated. And then there's Christian "Zouille" Augustin's voice, that soaring, theatrical, unmistakably French wail that gives every track its dramatic backbone. The man sings as if his life depends on it, and honestly, on songs like "La Hargne des Tordus" and "Quand un Aveugle Rêve," you absolutely believe him.

The production, handled by Vic Vergeat at Germany's legendary Karo Studios with Kalle Trapp engineering, is crisp and powerful — the kind of sound that lets every instrument breathe while still hitting with sledgehammer force. From the galloping urgency of "Chasse le Dragon" to the melancholy grandeur of "Mourir pour une Princesse" and the epic sweep of "La Montagne qui Saigne," every track earns its place. This High Roller Records reissue has been mastered by Patrick W. Engel at Temple of Disharmony and cut by SST Germany on Neumann machines, making this the definitive audiophile pressing. A record that has rightfully been called the blueprint for European epic progressive metal — and it still sounds absolutely vital nearly four decades later.

For fans of:
Iron Maiden, Trust, ADX, Blasphème, H-Bomb, Warning (FRA)

Track listing

1. La Hargne des Tordus
2. Chasse le Dragon
3. Le Dernier des Travaux d'Hercule
4. Quand un Aveugle Rêve
5. Mourir pour une Princesse
6. La Montagne qui Saigne
7. Marchand d'Hommes
8. Messager
9. La Huitième Couleur de L'arc-en-ciel

Manufacturer: High Roller Records, Bertolt-Brecht-Str. 1a, 08412 Werdau, Germany, Contact: www.hrrecords.de