Released a few days ago on NuGenesis Ltd., “Human Forbidden” the second full-length album by French band Far Plain merging together the charming grunge resonances of the 90s inspired by bands such as Alice In Chains and Stone Temple Pilots, so those who already buried the grunge now can take their shovels and dig this album out, they will have a nice surprise, grunge is still alive and kicking. Well, maybe not at Seattle, but Paris. 🙂
Beneath all the parallels, the 11 plus one bonus track of “Human Forbidden” are made of the best elements of 90s grunge, we’ve got cutting riffs, floating acoustic moments, raw garage rock and smooth classy orchestrations, strong, but melodious vocal arrangements. And even if some moments may sounds pretty familiar, this feels just nice to listen to.
It was in March 2008, when Will Attewell (vocals, guitars) went into the studio with Jeff Alcaras (Sound Engineer) to tape the first Far Plain demo. Heavily influenced by the 90’s, they produced 3 grungy rock titles to put the Far Plain adventure rolling. To perform live the line-up was complied by guitarist Guillaume Jockey (The Four Horsemen), drummer Fred Beauvais (Nutshell) and bass player Marileen (Hide & Sick).
After a series of performances, the group went back into the studio (August 2009), with producer Phil Alcaras, to record “Portae Lucis” (Studio de la côte), the first official album. A year with many concerts followed, forging a place for the group on the french scene. A considerable number of important articles (VS Webzine, Paville 666, Metal France and French Metal), success in radio OUI FM’s “Oui Love Myspace” competition and a thoughtful piece in ROCK & FOLK propulsed Far Plain into orbit amongst the leading lights of the French “Alternative Rock Music Mouvement”.
They started recording their 2nd Opus, “Human Forbidden” in September 2010. A change in the line-up has brought in NùN (Eric Blanchard) replacing Marileen on the bass guitar for all live performance.
“Human Forbidden” is heavy and catchy, familiar and fresh simultaneously. In the shade of most of the songs (“World’s A Rotten Apple”, “DHV”, “Butterflies”, “Orgasmic Junky”, etc) there’s a discrete Alice In Chains presence, but this is quite a friendly “ghost”. The album have a very intense groove, it’s filled with good, strong riffs, catchy themes and nice, releasing acoustic moments (the smooth acoustic version of “Tired” and the beautiful “One More Crush”) which brings a nice balance to the material.
This is a hell of a trip back to the grungy 90s, but an absolutely good one.
Far Plain – Official Site
Far Plain @ MySpace
DMA
Entire streaming of the album @ Deezer
