Nicolas De Renty is an unknown name in the music scene. This musician from France was originally a drummer and began playing styles as varied as jazz, metal and progressive rock, before studying classical composition and lyrical singing. Now in 2025 he released his first album Retour Au Bercail. An album which you don't hear every day! Too be honest I didn't have a clue what to expect music wise on this album. An album for which De Renty wrote all of the music, arrangements and lyrics. He did all of the vocals, drums and piano parts. Only Anthony Malaussena joined to play guitar and bass on Traquenar. So I put on the album without prejudice. The album opens with, of course being a drummer originally, a drum intro. This track, being the longest on the entire album, has the title Leurre Éternel (Eternal Lure). The music starts rather impressively with strong symphonic parts. However as soon as Nicolas starts to sing you might be rather surprised. At least I was. Classical singing and Gregorian chants are mixed with orchestral parts. Something which you don't hear every day on an album sent for a review. Later on a drum solo comes to the forefront which reminded me a bit of the drum solo Andy McCulloch did for Greenslade on Drum Folk which you can find on the album Bedside Manners Are Extra released in 1973. Also the following piece of music, Autopsie d'Une Éclipse (Autopsy Of An Eclipse), moves into the same direction. Classical music all over the place and Gregorian chants come along. No drums are used here. Only a male voice accompanied by classical instruments. Chamber music all the way. Next up Métallifugue. The shortest track on the album. During the only 3 minutes of music you can hear a fugue with jazzy improvisation. Here a drummer plays along with some Classical parts using some jazz improvisation. Retour Au Bercail (Back Home), the title track is next. This sounds a bit like the French National Anthem La Marseillaise. At the start of the next piece Traquenard (Trap ), you have the impression of being in a church. You hear chants and a church organ. As soon as De Renty sits behind his drum kit the tempo goes a little bit faster and a bit of a rock sound comes to the surface. Of course thanks to the guitar and bass contribution of the earlier mentioned Anthony Malaussena. The album ends with Sentence. No change of musical style. It sounds a bit like the opening piece. The drums have sometimes a marching rhythm and are with the vocals the most important players on this end piece. What to say about an album which only contains Classical Music, Chamber music, Classical singing and Gregorian chants. For myself it was a speechless moment the first time I heard it. Not speechless because it impressed me so much that words could not express the beauty of it. Not in that way. But meaning that I just could not find the right words to tell you what the music on Retour Au Bercail is all about. What I do know is that not everybody will like the music on this disc. Most of all the Classical singing and Gregorian chants will stop some from listening to this album. That was my idea also at first. How am I going through this album 46 minutes long. But I tried anyway. And in a way I was also a bit speechless in the end, I did like certain parts which I could not describe with words because they sounded very beautiful. All I can say is try for yourself if this strange and weird musical mix on Retour Au Bercail is something for you. So check out his Bandcamp page! But try to listen until the end! If I can do it you can do it too. Good luck with it! Maybe you will like it! *** Henri Strik (edited by Tracy van Os van den Abeelen) Where to buy? |
