I don't think a week has passed by where I haven't listened to Devotion since it first came out in March of last year. The debut full-length from Parisian metallic hardcore practioners Sorcerer, it unsurprisingly landed on my Best Hardcore Albums of 2024 list.
Despite it only clocking in at just over the 30-minute mark, Devotion feels like an epic listening experience, a testament to its clever songwriting and arrangements. The album's eight tracks tap into various musical wells, including doom, classic heavy metal, and '90s metallic hardcore. Its lyrics and artwork also evoke a certain air of melancholy and intrigue, two elements rarely realized in modern hardcore.
It was a pleasure speaking with guitarist Guillaume Scaillet to learn about Sorcerer, the mindset behind Devotion, and his take on the French hardcore scene he and his bandmates cut their teeth in.
For the uninitiated, what's the genesis story behind Sorcerer?
Well, I would say the band really started once [singer] Dom [Lucas] and my previous band, MindxAwake, ended. It was more punk hardcore type of music, and as far as I'm concerned this was not the type of riffs I was used to write even if I learnt so much by doing it. So in the end, the idea to start a band which would be more metal-related, yet still hardcore, came quite naturally.
At first, we thought about bands like Harm's Way, Agitator, but also Brutality will Prevail, Kickback, etc. The common point of all these acts is the dark tint of their music. But anyway, the first riffs came how they came and we didn't wonder too much about how it was going to look like. We just wanted to do our thing and this became the main leitmotiv for the following.
Between 2019 and 2020 we then secured Sorcerer's first consistent lineup and wrote the first EP, JOY, which was released in early 2021.
I'm intrigued with the band and a lot of the imagery the group has used so far, especially on the Devotion album. There's an evocative spirit to it all that also helps separate Sorcerer from most of the bands within your style. How much of that is a group effort? Or do you have someone in the band that truly drives the aesthetic and visual representation of Sorcerer? It's an almost cinematic vibe. Like its own world unto itself.
Exactly, "cinematic" is the right word. We wanted to create a full project with Sorcerer and not just another band that simply performs music, so the idea of working on the visuals pretty much as hard as on the music was there since the begining. Dom and I mostly discussed the visual conceptsly. I work as a screenwriter and director so I guess that's also part of where all this cinematic universe comes from.
We are really found of the movies from the '70s, especially from the US, so that's a vibe that fuels the band very much. It also gave us a challenge that would be to recreate some of these cinematic atmospheres within the music. We attempted to write riffs that would evoke a certain kind of imagery and that naturally informed the writing process. It sometimes drives Sorcerer far from the usual stylistic boundaries of hardcore, and that's precisely the thing that interest us the most
What are some of the specific films and directors that you've drawn inspiration from? The cover image to Devotion looks like it could have come from a '70s film, for example. From a hardcore music standpoint, that cover was a breath of fresh air when I first saw it. The man on the cover looks defeated. He looks resigned to his fate but he won't stop fighting.
Since we are named Sorcerer, [William] Friedkin's movies obviously played a great part in this! But I would also quote Ken Russell, [Sam] Peckinpah, [Stanley] Kubrick, and [Andrzej] Żuławski. Basically, you just have to look at the merch we print [laughs].
As far as the LP cover is concerned, we wanted to really dig into that medieval atmosphere that stuck with the band since the beginning. John Boorman's Excalibur certainly came to mind, but we took an actor from a very particular French TV show, called P'tit Quinquin. I wanted a real face that people would not forget. And the fact that Alan, the model, is an actor, really allowed me to direct him toward some singular expressions that would embody the Devotion idea.
From my perspective, this is the face of a man who believed in God all his life, and after having experiencing a horrific battle, realizes that there is no god, and that his devotion led to nothing. Thus, he now has to turn to himself only.
Do you think some or most of these influences are lost on most people, or do you get a lot of feedback from nerds like me about the imagery/aesthetic of the band?
Maybe the youth is not connected to these as we are but indeed there are some people who find the references each time. It’s not that hard! It’s not obscure Hungarian filmakers so it’s still quite part of the pop culture, I guess? But if any of these references can lead someone to discover these masterpieces, then it’s a win!
READ ALSO: Essential Euro Hardcore Records from the 2000s
From a location perspective, does the band feel isolated from most of the rest of the hardcore scene? Or is that just a typical American way of looking at things?
I would not say isolated cause we're connected to all the bands around, we're all friends and everyone is doing its own thing, but maybe apart yes, because even if we're part of the scene for a long time now, we are interested in the other musical scenes, wider than hardcore. It can be seen as a strength because the audience is wider, but some might see it as a weakness since we are not doing pure hardcore by the rules.
What are the prospects of Sorcerer coming over to the States to play some shows? I know a full-on tour is extremely difficult from a financial standpoint, but perhaps some weekend runs on both coasts? Or is this all too expensive to pull off in this climate? Are you open to touring offers here and other places you haven't played yet?
Of course, coming to the US is always a big thing especially for an EU band. We grew up in this music looking up to what Americans did, because it comes from there, and it's so rooted, culturally speaking, that the perspective of playing there is obviously quite exciting. But things have changed a bit, the scene has grown stronger in Europe and other parts of the world; so we'd rather focusing on becoming a proper name at home and in Europe and we think that things like that will come naturally.
So there's nothing particular planned for the moment but hopefully it will come. We would love to do small coast tours cause indeed it seems more appropriate, there are so much bands we would love to travel with. Also, the big hardcore fests sound like a dream; And talking about dreams, we would love to open for bigger act, on tours that would maybe be less DIY. But that's the cool thing with Sorcerer, we can fit on very different bills. And of course, this is true for the rest of the world. I even think that we would love to tour Asia before the US. Let's see what comes!
If you'd like to book Sorcerer, hit up:
[email protected] (UE/UK)
[email protected] (France)
When it comes to French hardcore, the band that usually comes up is Kickback. But I wanted to see what other bands from there you feel were influential to you and other people growing up in the '90s and '00s.
The Kickback era that influences us is quite specific, it's mostly around les 150 passions meurtrières and even more, No Surrender, not before. But as far as other French bands are concerned, it's a good question. I don't feel that there is another hardcore band from out here that made a similar impression on us.
But I'm obliged to talk about Gojira, even if it's not something that you can clearly hear in Sorcerer's music. I feel truly inspired by pretty much their entire discography. They have this capacity to alloy beauty and heaviness in such a unique way and I fell close to that dynamic.
Also, it's not French but we are neighbors with Belgium, and we love what the H8000 era defined. It was something that the Europeans did better than the Americans, for once, it built a true identity that is still quite a thing around here. I myself may be too young to have grown up listing to this music when we were in the heart of it, but for example, when a band like xRepentancex from the UK came up with that same vibe in the 2010s, it was a massive game-changing moment for us as vegan straight edge hardcore kids. Everything was cool about this band : the spirit, the imagery, the music. Their sets at Ieperfest and in Nantes, France were both unforgettable.
READ MORE: H8000 Hardcore: 10 Records That Helped Define the Movement
What stylistic directions do you see Sorcerer exploring on the next release? It feels like you've set a tone with Devotion where you can take some new musical paths next time out. Selfishly, I just hope it doesn't stray too far from the core spirit of the Sorcerer sound.
I love not knowing exactly were we are going, it's what we did a bit for the first LP and it worked well; we just sat and wrote the music that came to us. As you said, Devotion set a tone that we and the audience really liked so the aim is to respect that, but also to dig it, to explore it and see what comes up.
I know that we can be look like the band who likes to experiment at all costs [laughs], and it's partly true. My main concern would be getting bored with my own music. I like being surprised, but we really want to keep things "Sorcerer-ish" even if it's hard to describe sometimes. So it's a tough balance to keep.
To try to be more specific, we want to push everything further on the next record. I guess the next one shall be heavier but the melodies and the clean parts will also be pushed further. It won't be Devotion, as we wish the sound itself to be maybe a bit colder, but I reassure you, it will still be 100% Sorcerer.
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Devotion is available via Delivrance Records (digital/vinyl) and Frozen Records (CD/cassette).
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