A real highlight of the year 2021 was French collective Æthĕrĭa Conscĭentĭa's excellent Corrupted Pillars of Vanity, an experimental black metal-meets-jazz piece of proggery that turned plenty a head. And it's a real pleasure to discover a fresh (third in total) full-length from the band that builds on their sound and directs it in intriguing new ways without being in any danger at all of spoiling it. Indeed, pressing play on The Blossoming's opening track Astral Choir and hearing a build from near-MENA strums to saxophone-backed blackened rumbles that soon turn proggy with backing electronics (courtesy of Hugo Champion of Plebeian Grandstand) may have fans of the previous album checking they're not listening to that again, so close is the formula followed. And that's not a bad thing, as despite a slightly murky production the instrumentation is clear and allows the saxophone to shine as much as the guitars or bellowed vocals. Soon, there follows a real change from before as around the mid-point some airy female vocals join the mix, blending well with both the jazzy elements and the more aggressive metal, a particularly catchy section ensuing when the latter rejoins the mix.

From then on, the album has plenty of peaks yet definitely works as a whole listen, particularly when you note that this is much more concise than the previous album and just as rewarding. The post-metal meandering of Haersperadh soon turns jaunty thanks to the saxophone, and later blackened violence blends in well to form a kind of post-black morass that hits all the genre touchstones that you'd expect - not chaotic enough to be avant-garde, as some would dub the band, since the writing is far too considered and transitions are smooth. It all just works, to the point where I found myself wondering why none of the jazz greats of yore included MENA folk and blackened screams and blastbeats in their oeuvre! And the album continues to surprise with shorter five minute pieces (some of the band's shortest tracks yet) such as Wrath of the Virikoï that go a little deeper into psychedelic territory, distant piano and guitar solos wailing like dreams atop hand-percussion before launching into a vicious gallop.

As before, the metal elements are part of the larger picture rather than a focus in themselves, which will put some off. Yet the overall sound created is so compelling that genre reflections fall away easily; Daimu Kadasdra Ko Antall's dip towards ambience is expertly done, the female vocals taking the lead and pushing this more psychedelic aspect of the band's sound well. Endless Cycle builds on this, taking the throat-singing occult weirdness and throwing in more MENA folk rock before some of the gnarliest black metal of the album so far rolls in. And the closing title track marries its jazzy saxophone to driving rain before kicking into yearning atmospheric black metal that grows more triumphant and grandiose towards the end, showing that Æthĕrĭa Conscĭentĭa still have their hearts pointed firmly at the underground.

It's a hard album to fault - perhaps initially the female vocals may seem a little strange, yet they're alien enough to advance the band's themes without distracting once you've given them time to sink in, and are certainly not a distraction from the music. The Blossoming lives up to its name by growing on you with every listen, revealing more each time while keeping your ears as hypnotised as on the first listen. And it surpasses the previous album with skill, a little less ritualistic and drawn-out but doing just as much if not more with less. An easy recommendation and another superb reason to praise these Frenchmen (and women) to the heavens! Those who already know the band will be delighted at this further proof of skill - those necronauts yet to plumb these depths have many wonders to discover.