More often than not, imagination in the thing that prevents many from getting a solid grasp upon greatness. Where genre boundaries fall away and all that’s left is your own sense of daring and drive to bring such a unique vision to life, that’s where some of the most engaging and fascinating creations are born. We live in a time where we are constantly seeing all sorts of acts coming around that adhere to such a philosophy, yet it’s not terribly often that we’re able to come across a work or an act that’s as awe-inspiring and compelling as their imagination would have us believe. After showcasing intense growth and extreme dominance over the course of just a handful of years, Creatvre’s return is, as its reputation would make one imagination, is something to be experienced.

Creatvre has more than earned the right to be hailed as one of the finest acts out in the current landscape of all that progressive black metal can be, and it’s only with time that the act has seemed to get better and better seemingly almost without exception. An act that has always thought outside of the box and has never once been afraid to draw from all sorts of different genres to amplify its own personal brand of metal with tremendous vision to match, it’s throughout the nine tracks of “Toujours Humain” that we see that taken to dramatic effect yet again. Much like it’s predecessors, “Toujours Humain” left nothing on the table and really went for the throat in every given instance. Aided by the backdrop of the distant future where flesh is replaced with cogs and metal where hope and salvation are marketable and therefore exploited resolves, Creatvre constantly and consistently delivers a performance that’s as ironically organic and fluid as it is calculated and winding for all of its unexpected twists and turns.

Blinded by the neon lights of the seductive dystopian underbelly that Creatvre effortlessly lures you into, it’s by the time you exit the labyrinthine streets that you’re begging for more as you were shown sights unlike anything else and the high was something that’s downright irreplaceable; addiction of the finest sort. “Toujours Humain” asks you to voluntarily abandon your flesh for something supposedly superior, yet it’s in doing so that Creatvre wears you down and infiltrates your psyche, demanding submission as thoughts are replaced by calculations and emotions mere spreadsheets of data; the final step in humanity truly become a shell of its former self.

Before such thematic splendor, one is simply inundated by what Creatvre brings to the table for its fifth offering. Melodic at times and more than capable of punishing the listen with a deep understanding of what it actually means to be progressive, but never once does Creatvre allow itself to lose sight of its artistic vision. Many things are brought to the table through these nine offerings, and virtually all of them are intensely satisfying to submit unto. To find yourself enamored by its winding rhythms and lost before its tremendous songwriting, this is an album that is nigh on spellbinding in every sense of the word.

Creatvre has been on the rise for years now, yet it is here that they remind us what it is: unfettered genius. The vast possibilities of progressive black metal is not given a proper chance to sprawl out for all that it can be often enough. “Toujours Humain” seizes the opportunity and doesn’t just show us a glimpse of what can be, but a vast and captivating experience that has so much to offer every time you plunge into this neon steel hell.

“Toujours Humain” releases on August 1st via I, Voidhanger Records!

LISTEN to an advanced track from “Toujours Humain” on Bandcamp here.

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