French post-rock/post-metal greats Year Of No Light are celebrating their 20th anniversary this year, and in honor of that, they'll release the discography box set Mnemophobia on July 2 via Pelagic Records, along with their first proper album since 2013's Tocsin (and first new music at all since their 2015 split with Bagarre Générale). The new album's called Consolamentum, which -- to quote the band's album announcement -- "describes the sacrament, the initiation ritual of the Catharic Church, which thrived in Southern Europe in the 12th - 14th Century – a ritual that brought eternal austereness and immersion in the Holy Spirit."
"We wanted this album to sound as organic and analog as possible," the band says. "All tracks were recorded live. The goal was to have the most natural, warm and clean takes possible, to give volume to the dynamics of the songs. We aimed to have a production with a singular personality." The band also adds that the album is "music against modern times. Year Of No Light is above all a praxis. We wanted intensity, trance, climax and threat, all of them embedded in a bipolar and mournful ethos."