THE SHADOW’S GONE OUT’s EP “Final Alarm” Feels Almost Alive, Drawing Heavy Breaths

One of the great things about music is you never know what’s around the next corner or the next click. The Shadow’s Gone Out and their debut EP ‘Final Alarm‘ is one of those moments when one click revealed a gem.

The Shadow’s Gone Out is an instrumental industrial rock band based in Tours (France), with only two members, Julien Nourtier on drums and samples and Anthony Enault on bass. Influenced by underground music from England and the United States, there is no main instrument, their approach to sound revolves around music created with bass, drums, electro, and industrial samples.

It takes intention to listen to instrumental music because, without lyrics and narratives to direct the imagination, the mind is left to wander among sounds and textures. So able to sit and listen in a dimmed room with the rain beating down the windows on a Sunday, ‘Final Alarm’ is the perfect sounding experience, evidencing a style aimed at genres derived from post-punk, including industrial or darkwave. There are three tracks in all designed almost alive, drawing heavy breaths. Dark, rage, and ominous are definitely words that come to mind.

The EP opens with “Pills,” featuring vocal samples. Dynamic at its peaks, dark at times, building its tensions while haunting you with its alternations, “Pills” takes you on a journey through the industrial and darkwave world of The Shadow’s Gone Out. On one side, there is a driven beat and double bass drum, and countering all that is haunting and alarming female vocals helping to tie it all together.

You’d think “Sous la Pluie” is a softer song, as it begins on a lighter note. However, the track builds its atmosphere on strong industrial beats, some crawling sound effects, and some spoken words. “Sous la Pluie” is filled with strength and darkness, powerful bass lines, and drum parts, and completes the ambiance created by the deep samples.

I’d go further saying that the touch of Nourtier Julien and Enault Anthony gives an apocalyptic ambiance to the titled track “Final Alarm,” turning the record into an experimental industrial piece. Everything is focused on atmospheres, creating a pulsation, a vibration, black, so cold, and hypnotic that perfectly matches our modern frozen world with apparent effectiveness.

Both “Pills” and “Final Alarm” have powerful, breathtaking black-and-white music videos with solid messages and raging vibes. The EP has a mysterious profile, its atmosphere sometimes bringing you to rage and other times to mental uplift.

The French duo seems to be an inexhaustible source of energy and devotion to the industrial/darkwave genre, inspired perhaps by their experiences and guided by their emotions. They show us anger, sometimes despair, or loneliness, but in the end, there is a bright side to merge through the darkness. Or at least, we can only hope so. An absolutely solid, promising, and satisfying debut EP from The Shadow’s Gone Out.