Band: Gros Coeur | Album: Vague Scélérate | Genre: Krautrock, Progressive rock | Year: 2025
From: Liege, Belgium | Label: Spinda Records
For fans of: King Gizzard, Wand, Mother’s Cake
Gros Coeur is a band out of Belgium, and Vague Scélérate (Eng.: Rogue Wave) is their sophomore release. Belgium isn’t exactly some hotbed of prog; to my recollection, Neptunian Maximalism is the only Belgian band I’ve featured on here before. And even the other Belgian bands in my library are kind of…marginal. Nessie, Phylter, and Womega are hardly essential acts; and I just don’t like Univers Zero that much.
Vague Scélérate, however, is a great record. It’s rather diverse with a wonderful, distinctive sound.
The album opens with its longest song, “La Vague”. Comprising almost one-third of the record’s runtime, this 13-minute epic kicks off with a motorik beat, rubbery bass, and sharp guitars slathered in effects.There’s a sense of urgency from the get-go, and even with assorted asides, this song continues to push forward with unbridled energy. The band deploys an array of textural variations, including melodica and massive amounts of reverb.
Things ebb and swell, but there’s always a clear forward momentum. The rhythm is hypnotic, and the production is fantastic. Everything is lush and borderline-overwhelming, but the individual elements of this song can still be picked out. Aside from obvious psych and kraut influences, I also picked up on dashes of new wave, post-punk, and surf rock. Hand percussion and liberal use of a wah pedal bring some fun, funky touches to this song in its second half. The conclusion of this song blends elements as disparate as disco and Mars Volta-style Latin prog. This is an enthralling epic and one of the best songs of the year.
“Euphorie” maintains a similar atmosphere to the opening cut. Latin hand percussion and a loose funkiness predominate, but slinky guitar lines and echoey vocals bring artsy oddness to the party. The main theme of this song has a Middle Eastern tone to it, and combined with the lush tones, this reminds me of Barış Manço’s 2023. This song, like much of the album, focuses on a groove and the variations thereon, and this is a ton of fun.
Anatolian flavors continue on “Montréal”. Textures ripple and waver, and the mood shifts fluidly from warm to anxious. After flowing through some mellow passages, the song ends on a jittery and intense instrumental passage which beautifully melds rock music with Near Eastern influences.
While this record has borne a lot of similarities to King Gizzard, their Gizzardishness is most obvious on “Lentement”. That’s hardly a knock against Grow Coeur, though. Especially in this song’s heavier moments, they synthesize the sounds of acts like KGLW and Osees into something their own. Funk, krautrock, and psychedelia mingle in a haze of bongos and chunky basslines while guitars squeal oddly.
The album ends with “Contre Corps”. It’s got a slow, dreamy, and almost sultry opening. Reverb is again cranked up to eleven here, and the deliberate pace works well with the spacious production. About two minutes in, though, the song bursts back into Gros Coeur’s modus operandi of high-energy prog-funk-krautrock. Wiry guitars dance over a steady, danceable rhythm; and breathy vocals lend lushness to this track.
Gros Coeur’s second full-length release is an exciting blend of prog, psych, krautrock, and funk. The band lays down entrancing rhythms while layering rich guitar and vocal parts on top. Each of the five songs featured on this record demonstrates some great internal diversity while also maintaining strong cohesion.
Score: 83/100
The Elite Extremophile 