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The Prestige announce new album ‘Isthmos’
Hailing from Paris, intricate, viscerally heavy, and always pushing the envelope, The Prestige continue their evolution and open a new chapter with ‘Noire Nuit’. The brand new single with accompanying video is out today via Banshies and is the first extract to be revealed from the band’s upcoming album ‘Isthmos’ which is set for release 24th April.
More than a simple preview, ‘Noire Nuit’ (translating ominously as “black night”) unfolds as an immediate immersion into a suffocating, dark, and organic universe. Recorded live, then mixed by Amaury Sauvé (The Apiary) and mastered by Thibaut Chaumont (Deviant Lab), ‘Noire Nuit’ marks a significant step in the band’s trajectory.
The song addresses depression through a central metaphor: a viscous swamp in which every attempt to move only worsens the sinking. Alex Diaz (vocals/guitar) reflects on this focal image: “while going through a difficult period in my life, I felt that the more I tried to struggle and look for futile solutions, to the point of draining all my energy, the deeper I was sinking into a state of distress.” He describes it as a futile fight, “like quicksand or a sticky swamp,” where the survival instinct paradoxically becomes destructive. The way out does not come from a sudden burst of strength, but from stopping: “it was by understanding that I had to accept my situation and make sense of it that I was able to climb back up.”
This feeling of sinking is not just a narrative theme; it is embedded in the very structure of the song. ‘Noire Nuit’ relies on an unstable, deliberately disorienting meter that disrupts any sense of linear progression. Thibaut Cavelier (drums) explains that “the song’s particular beat reinforces the impression of mud that’s hard to move through,” with each bar seeming heavier than the last. Movement becomes hesitant, almost clumsy: “each step is heavier than the previous one. You stagger. You falter.”
Within this opaque mass, The Prestige also introduce something new: a sung, central refrain, almost luminous by contrast. Fabien Gagnière (guitar) points out that this choice is far from insignificant: “the sung chorus reminds us that despite the feeling that nothing can get better, there is always a light in the darkness.” This melodic anchor, rare in the band’s discography, acts as a fragile breath at the heart of the chaos, and represents something quite new for the band – to have a chorus that is so central within a song.
The lyrics, blending French and English, reinforce a sense of inner turmoil: languages intertwine, clash, and overlap, mirroring thoughts that spiral and contradict one another. Directed by the band themselves, the video extends this unfiltered approach, visually translating this sticky darkness and the silent struggle against oneself.
With ‘Noire Nuit’, The Prestige push their hardcore and post-metal identity to the edge, adopting a tuning far lower than on their last album ‘Amer’. Their visceral, adrenaline-fueled sound mutates into something heavier, more bogged down, more unhealthy, yet also riddled with cracks and vulnerability, as if violence could no longer exist without its emotional counterpart. The Prestige have laid the foundations for an album that’s set to be deeply introspective, dark, dense, and demanding—both for those who listen to it and for those who created it.
Also produced by Amaury Sauvé, the band’s last album ‘Amer’ was released in 2025 to critical acclaim after a prolonged hiatus. Metal Hammer proclaimed it “one of the year’s most interesting post-hardcore releases.” Their sound reemerged like a ghost that has never left us, more unique than ever. Dark riffs that grip you by the throat, intertwined with moments of melodic softness that create enchanting soundscapes.
The Prestige have a strong live history too, having toured across Europe and America alongside legends like Dillinger Escape Plan, Every Time I Die, Stray from the Path, Birds in Row, Black Peaks, and Joliette. Stay tuned for more from the band in 2026.