(Ambient / Post-Rock / Shoegaze) Destroyalldreamers - À Coeur LéDeu Sommeil Sanglant - 2004, FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

1 Zeta Reticuli Express (5:02)
2 Orage (7:55)
3 Victoire Sur Le Soleil (3:55)
4 Facultatives Imaginaires, En Robe Et En Éclats (9:26)
5 The Sky Was Glorious For A Moment (8:45)
6 Destroy All Dreamers (5:33)
7 Swirling Colours Sink (7:55)
8 Sombrer Dans La Folie (3:42)
9 Ghost Guitar In The Shell (5:21)

Shoegaze has become synonymous with My Bloody Valentine, making comparisons between any up-and-coming shoegazer rock outfits and Kevin Shields's legendary band inevitable. But if, just for a moment, you can put Loveless out of your mind and listen to A Coeur Leger Sommeil Sanglant on its own terms, you might find it to be quite an achievement. The band has an awkward name and even more awkward album title, but their mastery of guitar and effects layering is terrific, and their interlocking textures wisely avoid wall-of-sound clichés.
Destroyalldreamers don't have the same knack for powerful melody as some of their shoegaze predecessors, but the album's arrangements hold together very well, stretching comfortably through extended repetitions and builds. Thankfully, the group avoids uniformity in their songwriting; the funereal listlessness of the minor keys in "Zeta Reticuli Express" is nicely countered by "Orage"'s clearer-toned ascendant guitars and intricate drumming. "Victoire sur le Soleil" balances out the claustrophobia of some of the group's denser arrangements with airy layers and a measured pace.
There are no overtly weak tracks on A Coeur Leger Sommeil Sanglant, but a few of the suffer from over-extension, milking selected textures and phrases for all they're worth, and then some. The band is certainly adept at subtle variations and additions -- the entrance of "The Sky Was Glorious for a Moment"'s understated lead melodic guitar is a good example -- but sometimes they let the same thick soup swirl around for several bars at a time. It can be entrancing, but it's grating as well. There are a few awkward songwriting shifts, too, including disjointed key switches. These are rare mistakes, but owing to the strong quality of most of Destroyalldreamers' songs, they stand out even more when they occur.
Despite having room for improvement, A Coeur Leger Sommeil Sanglant is a self-assured, impressive effort. It takes a lot of guts to try your hand at a genre that, in most critics' minds, was definitively "nailed" a decade ago and is now teeming with third-string knockoffs. Destroyalldreamers' successful, often beautiful work is nothing to scoff at.

Exact Audio Copy V0.99 prebeta 4 from 23. January 2008
EAC extraction logfile from 18. October 2008, 14:22
Destroyalldreamers / A Coeur Lйger Sommeil Sanglant
Used drive : PLEXTOR DVDR PX-750A Adapter: 0 ID: 0
Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No
Read offset correction : 102
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Installed external ASPI interface
Gap handling : Appended to previous track
Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : 192 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : C:\Program Files\EAC\Exact Audio Copy\FLAC\flac.exe
Additional command line options : -V -8 -T "artist=%a" -T "title=%t" -T "album=%g" -T "date=%y" -T "tracknumber=%n" -T "genre=%m" %s
TOC of the extracted CD
Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
---------------------------------------------------------
1 | 0:00.00 | 5:02.24 | 0 | 22673
2 | 5:02.24 | 7:55.52 | 22674 | 58350
3 | 12:58.01 | 3:55.33 | 58351 | 76008
4 | 16:53.34 | 9:26.18 | 76009 | 118476
5 | 26:19.52 | 8:45.65 | 118477 | 157916
6 | 35:05.42 | 5:33.30 | 157917 | 182921
7 | 40:38.72 | 7:55.20 | 182922 | 218566
8 | 48:34.17 | 3:42.25 | 218567 | 235241
9 | 52:16.42 | 5:21.11 | 235242 | 259327
Track 1
Filename E:\FLAC\Destroyalldreamers - А Cњur Lйger Sommeil Sanglant\01 - Zeta Reticuli Express.wav
Pre-gap length 0:00:02.00
Peak level 94.4 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 03CA32DE
Copy CRC 03CA32DE
Accurately ripped (confidence 1) [0AE373C8]
Copy OK
Track 2
Filename E:\FLAC\Destroyalldreamers - А Cњur Lйger Sommeil Sanglant\02 - Orage.wav
Pre-gap length 0:00:02.00
Peak level 94.4 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 5EDF7A8A
Copy CRC 5EDF7A8A
Accurately ripped (confidence 1) [CFEF989D]
Copy OK
Track 3
Filename E:\FLAC\Destroyalldreamers - А Cњur Lйger Sommeil Sanglant\03 - Victoire sur le Soleil.wav
Pre-gap length 0:00:02.00
Peak level 94.4 %
Track quality 99.9 %
Test CRC 232406B7
Copy CRC 232406B7
Accurately ripped (confidence 1) [18F6C924]
Copy OK
Track 4
Filename E:\FLAC\Destroyalldreamers - А Cњur Lйger Sommeil Sanglant\04 - Facultatives Imaginaires, en Robe et en Йclats.wav
Peak level 94.4 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 56232EAD
Copy CRC 56232EAD
Accurately ripped (confidence 1) [057E78D2]
Copy OK
Track 5
Filename E:\FLAC\Destroyalldreamers - А Cњur Lйger Sommeil Sanglant\05 - The Sky was Glorious for a Moment.wav
Peak level 94.4 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 4761F7EA
Copy CRC 4761F7EA
Accurately ripped (confidence 1) [144C4822]
Copy OK
Track 6
Filename E:\FLAC\Destroyalldreamers - А Cњur Lйger Sommeil Sanglant\06 - Destroy All Dreamers.wav
Pre-gap length 0:00:02.00
Peak level 94.4 %
Track quality 99.9 %
Test CRC DDCFE88A
Copy CRC DDCFE88A
Accurately ripped (confidence 1) [9BCE2159]
Copy OK
Track 7
Filename E:\FLAC\Destroyalldreamers - А Cњur Lйger Sommeil Sanglant\07 - Swirling Colours Sink.wav
Pre-gap length 0:00:02.00
Peak level 94.4 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 575D1FD7
Copy CRC 575D1FD7
Accurately ripped (confidence 1) [654AAC98]
Copy OK
Track 8
Filename E:\FLAC\Destroyalldreamers - А Cњur Lйger Sommeil Sanglant\08 - Sombrer dans la Folie.wav
Pre-gap length 0:00:02.00
Peak level 94.4 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 6C0E27D3
Copy CRC 6C0E27D3
Accurately ripped (confidence 1) [650D316F]
Copy OK
Track 9
Filename E:\FLAC\Destroyalldreamers - А Cњur Lйger Sommeil Sanglant\09 - Ghost Guitar in the Shell.wav
Pre-gap length 0:00:02.00
Peak level 94.4 %
Track quality 99.9 %
Test CRC F8973BFD
Copy CRC F8973BFD
Accurately ripped (confidence 1) [ABAA7199]
Copy OK
All tracks accurately ripped
No errors occurred
End of status report