The enigmatic French shoegaze-metal impressionists Alcest, a key inspiration to many of our most adventurous black metal bands, are about to return with a new album called Kodama, and frontman Neige says it’s based around his childhood visions of another world. We’ve posted the early songs “Oiseaux De Prole” and “Je Suis D’Ailleurs,” and the band has now shared the album’s expansive, lovely, occasionally brutal title track. The song ranges over nine minutes, and Neige claims that all the vocals are wordless Cocteau Twins-style improvisations. It’s awesome, and you can hear it below, via NPR.

Kodama is out 9/30 on Prophecy.