First Draft – An Instant Before The Promise of Dawn
First Draft – An Instant Before The Promise of Dawn
Vlad Productions
Release Date: 10/10/2025
Review by Rory Bentley
8.5/10
If you want to get my attention amongst the mounds of reviews we get sent to the EM inbox everyday, then you can do a lot worse than writing ‘FFO Brutus, Emma Roth Rundle and Alcest’. That’s exactly what French Post/Math Rock outfit First Draft did, and the fact that they accompanied it with an album that lives up to those lofty claims makes me very happy indeed.
I don’t review a lot of Post-Rock here but I love the lush, expansive, shimmering textures the genre displays at its peak, particularly when integrated into more ‘conventional’ song structures. When ‘For A Few Minutes More’ kicks in with its warm chords and galloping percussion combined with Marine Arnoult’s impassioned, driving vocal we’re off to an excellent start. The song peppers juddering guitar stabs within some cracking vocal hooks that wouldn’t be out of place on a more Alt Pop release.
‘A Tyrant’s Heaven’ continues the momentum with a power pop structure embellished by an expansive shoegaze backdrop that brings a cinematic element to the raw, adrenalised Rock on display. ‘Agnostic’ then takes its foot off the gas and lets the record breathe with a greater sense of space and dynamics, building to a crescendo of killer blast beats, revealing that Alcest influence we were promised.
The Brutus comparisons are apparent all over the record, and they’re definitely not without foundation, however the band are not just a clone of the beloved Belgians. Sure they have the whole singing drummer with a pleasing rasp to her tone and they draw from many of the same influences, but the Post-Rock and more esoteric side of things is much more prominent in First Draft’s approach. ‘Paralysis Kingdom’ for example appears to draw from Cult of Luna and Julie Christmas’s fruitful collaborations and the harder edges of Post Metal than Brutus would.
At 39 minutes it’s a really delightful listen that makes me want to hit play again as soon as the emotional ‘Promised Lands’ hits its lofty climax. “An Instant…” is a gorgeous, stirring yet satisfyingly muscular debut and one of the loveliest surprises of the year for me. I’m now going to delve into their previous releases whilst eagerly anticipating what’s next, because I need more of this in my life!
Paralysis Kindom (Live Music Video)
TRACKLISTING:
01. For A Few Minutes More
02. A Tyrant’s Heaven
03. Agnostic
04. Paralysis Kingdom
05. My Courage Is Prey
06. Satellites In Your Seat
07. Promise Lands
LINKS:
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