Fantasia

Slift’s trip through the outer reaches of all things psychedelic and heavy never takes predictable turns. After the French trio experimented with the possibilities of longer-form songwriting on 2024’s 80-minute masterpiece Ilion, Fantasia brings them back to (relatively) contained missives. The opening title track is nine minutes long, sure, but they apply what they’ve learned and make it a rollercoaster ride through a post-metal, post-apocalyptic landscape. Jean Fossat’s wounded howl and sparkling keyboards get pushed to the front of the mix, highlighting the urgency of the story they’re telling – a parable of a town plagued by xenophobia as a microcosm of the world situation. The political message doesn’t get in the way of the actual rocking. Canek Flores’s urgent drumming powers cosmic journeys like “Corrupted Sky” and “Orbis Tertius” as Fossat unleashes swirling waves of effects pedal-driven madness. Even as their approach metamorphizes, they always let the music do the talking. They’re quite eloquent.