Disclosure

The French band Wildpath is probably best known for its majestic, sweeping instrumentals; the relentless, soaring soprano vocals of Marjolaine Bernard; and high fantasy lyrical themes. But Disclosure breaks away from the band’s earlier repertoire (and the broader symphonic metal genre) in a few conspicuous ways. Some of Wildpath’s fans have expressed displeasure in various venues (i.e., Facebook and Youtube) with the differences between Disclosure and Wildpath’s earlier albums. Nevertheless, Disclosure is a big step forward for the band on several fronts and stands on its own merits as a great album.

Disclosure feels like a concept album due to the musical and lyrical progression and the quiet, brooding transitions between songs. But each song certainly stands on its own and none of them—even “Concealed,” the relatively short (3:17 in length) introduction to the album—seems to be dependent on adjacent songs for enjoyment. Nevertheless, if there is a unifying theme to the album, it seems to be “despair, and then renewed hope.” This is the first way that Disclosure differs from Wildpath’s earlier offerings (and the source of some complaints), each of which were broadly upbeat in theme and tempo. Despite those complaints, Wildpath’s embrace of a darker, moodier theme merely showcases the band’s willingness and ability to explore territory outside of its earlier haven of high fantasy anthems.

Another obvious difference from Wildpath’s earlier albums (and source of some grumbling) is Disclosure’s limited introduction of some techno musical elements—primarily via drums and keyboards. Those elements are deployed less and less as the album progresses: they’re very present in “Concealed,” the first song of the album, but completely absent by the start of “Petrichor,” the fifth song of the album.

Indeed, “Petrichor” feels like Disclosure’s climax: a beautifully devastating song that elicits sorrow and regret, then offers a tenuous ray of hope before its conclusion. Hence, the final six songs after “Petrichor”—each also essentially devoid of techno-type instrumentation—work as Disclosure’s denouement. Given Disclosure’s theme and song-to-song progression, it seems reasonable to conclude that the tapering techno elements were introduced to add a sense of growing conflict and were abandoned once that conflict came to a head in “Petrichor.”

Another small difference of Disclosure from Wildpath’s prior albums (and, again, instigator of some folks’ displeasure) is the introduction of some backing clean male vocals on a few songs and clean male lead vocals on the song “Hollow,” a ballad on which Marjolaine chips in backing vocals. Prior albums used Marjolaine almost exclusively, although some growling-style backing or competing vocals were employed in a song or two. In any event, the clean male vocals, although not outstanding, are quite serviceable. And most importantly, they don’t distract the focus from Marjolaine’s vocals, where it should be. That certainly can’t be said about the earlier albums’ ham-fisted (and essentially cliché) implementation of growling vocals running roughshod over Marjolaine’s exquisite voice.

A significant improvement from prior Wildpath albums is Marjolaine’s English pronunciation, particularly compared to her vocals from three years earlier on the album Underneath. Room for greater improvement exists, but credit is due for her work on that front. Disclosure’s songs also use a greater range of Marjolaine’s smooth, strong voice. Her talent as an exceptional soprano was well-established, albeit exclusively deployed on prior albums. But in Disclosure, she gracefully stretches her vocal range across several lower octaves, to the music’s benefit.

Another delightful aspect of Disclosure’s songs are scads of brief, but unique and interesting instrumental and/or vocal progression elements used as mid-song bridges or transitions throughout the album. Those elements are each used once (and only once) in a song. This has a couple of intriguing consequences. First, because many of the songs include multiple tempo changes (sometimes several changes per minute), these elements smooth out transitions in the music that might otherwise be jarring. And because these elements are beautifully executed and never repeated, they create anticipation in and demand the attention of the listener each time the song is played. In short, this was a smart move by Wildpath that really adds replayability to the album.

To be sure, Disclosure is not a perfect album. As explained above, despite improvement, Marjolaine is not fully proficient in English. That flaw is compounded by the inability to find Disclosure’s lyrics anywhere on the internet (including the band’s official website and Facebook page) and the lack of their inclusion in the digitally-delivered version available for purchase. (I contacted Wildpath 10 months ago and they assured me that lyrics would be added to their website. That hasn’t happened as of the date of this review.) Also, because the album’s climax occurs at the fifth song, the six-song denouement seems a bit drawn out when listening to the album straight through. Nevertheless, I find myself coming back to Disclosure over and over again, and it’s been a staple of my playlists for ten months straight.