Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	82/100
Review scores
Source	Rating
About.com
Allmusic
The New York Times	Positive
Pitchfork Media	(6.9/10)
PopMatters	(9/10)
Sputnikmusic
Ultimate Guitar	(7.7/10)

Les Voyages de l'Âme (English: "The Journeys of the Soul") is the third studio album by Alcest, released on January 6, 2012 by Prophecy Productions. "Autre Temps" was also released in a different version as a single, and was made into a music video. The album has been described as a musical synthesis of the previous two albums, blending shoegaze, post-rock, and black metal influences.

The New York Times described the album's sound as "a kind of slow, pretty, gauzy metal, with highly managed guitar distortion, cathedral reverb and high, clear voices, except for when Neige sings in a barbed scream."AllMusic's Thom Jurek described the album as combining "black metal's buzz, gorgeous shoegaze melodies, ambient soundscapes, and post rock feedback", and as a synthesis of the styles of the previous two albums. He also notes that the aggressive elements are employed in a "celebratory manner", and that with the use of harsh, screamed vocals, "the melodic beauty of the guitars seems to open up that expression, ensuring balance." Neige consciously rejected comparisons to black metal, arguing that "It is not correct to label me as black metal because I did a few screams. There is nothing in my music about hate or angriness." In a number of interviews he has described it as the most progressive and ethereal Alcest album to date. He has also stated that on this album he was inspired by Yann Tiersen, Dead Can Dance, Summoning, and Burzum.

Neige has described the album as a continuation of his effort to describe his experiences of "another world" in visions as a child, and as "an attempt to explore this very strange esoteric experience." Les Voyages is inspired by these even more than any previous album, with Neige saying that "The goal of this album was to push the concept of the band to the maximum. All the lyrics are very clear this time because before I was speaking about this but taking other directions to avoid that stuff. But the lyrics of the new album are really speaking about this and nothing else."

Though the songwriting process for this album was quicker than on previous albums, it was also the most challenging for Neige. He explained that "I really wanted to make something good. I want to push further the limits of this music, and for me, this is the end of an era. This album is the summary of what I've done before. The concept has been pushed to a different level than before, and that's why it sounds so other-worldly and dreamy, I think. It's complex and very progressive in a way. I think it's very melodic, and I spent a lot of time in the melodies to find good riffs." He noted the title track as the most difficult song to compose, particularly structurally, adding that "I did six or seven versions of this song to find the right structure. I didn't spent a lot of time on the melodies for this one, but just on the structure, to find a way to gather all the riffs."

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