Larmes De Héros

It’s a long way to the top if you want to rock n’ roll, especially if you’re a Francophone band playing New Wave of British Heavy Metal-style music in the midst of the thrash and hair metal explosion. Like their spiritual contemporaries in Armored Saint, Fates Warning, and Queensryche across the Atlantic, Sortilège showed little interest in what their peers were playing. Instead, they went heavy on the melody, the florid French lyrics flowing smoothly around the white-hot guitar interplay. There’s no language barrier strong enough to get in the way of riffs as striking as the ones on “La hargne des tordus” and “Messager.” Unfortunately, like a lot of bands with anachronistic tendencies, the winds of fate were unkind at the time. No need for tears, though – this unsung classic remains ripe for rediscovery.