REVIEW: The Prestige - AMER

Parisian hardcore crew The Prestige have just recently dropped their latest full length album, AMER, and it’s a riveting ride. Mixing together a concoction of the abrasiveness of Converge, the emotional heft of Counterparts, and the ominous inevitability of life itself, AMER is a deeply unsettling journey that you can’t help but continue on, even though you’re sure it’s only taking you further and further downwards.

The eleven songs vary fairly substantially in length, with two of them around a minute in length and another two over six, so there’s plenty of room for variety here - clearly The Prestige don’t feel hemmed in by hardcore’s traditional sensibilities. The album careens between the more expected brute-force runs of screams, downtuned riffs, and machine-gun drums, all the way to eerily ominous moments of almost-calm, that m anage to make you feel like there could just be something watching you.

The album opening is a phenomenal three track run; title track ‘Amer’ sits, appearing to be ever so dainty as the minute long intro, before it’s followed up by ‘Bête Noire’ and ‘Léger de Main’. However, dainty would not be the word for any moment on this album. The muscular guitars of The Prestige rip through the listener’s headphones, trying their best to drag you back through and into the uncompromising world of this French experimental hardcore group. All three hit like trains, with just enough of the skincrawling atmosphere included so as to never let you feel comfortable, even with the otherwise ferocious sounds of the rest of the album whirling you into a state of madness.

We’re then met by ‘Enfants terribles’, which brought to mind another French heavy band’s album of a similar name, but the writhing heaviness of the former is a far cry from the overt technicality of the latter. ‘Voir Dire’ came next, and as a previously released single fans have had plenty of time to get used to it. It’s all but ready made for a live setting, and is awash with intensely evocative lyrics. As vocalist and guitarist Alex Diaz said about the track: “‘Voir Dire’ is a poignant exploration of inner struggles and family legacies, blending poetry and melody to capture the essence of our humanity.”

Track six, ‘Négligée’, follows on with the poignant lyricism and raw vocals, but as the longest track here - over six minutes - it takes its time to evolve and to grow into what ends up being an incredibly potent emotive piece of music. ‘Ingénue’ gives listeners a brief break, as one of the least overtly aggressive moments across the album, before ‘Marquee’ and ‘Apaches’ extend the crushing intensity of the album nearer and nearer the end of the 37 minutes we are given.

The last two songs take eight minutes between them, with ‘Petite Mort’ lasting just two and finale ‘Cri de coeur’ taking a full six to close the album off. ‘Petite Mort’ is arguably the most comforting The Prestige has ever been, but ‘Cri de coeur’ takes the atmospheric intensity found throughout, blends it with some of the hardcore sounds they’re so good at, and makes for a phenomenally dark and unsettling album closer. With lyrics describing the emotions experienced after losing his grandfather, Alex Diaz is at his most devastating here.

AMER is unashamedly powerful, suffocatingly dark at times, and always stupendously emotional. French hardcore is doing better than ever, and this album is a glorious example of the scene’s brilliance. With this release, The Prestige have truly pushed their heads above the parapet and are making a claim to be one of the country’s best and brightest.

Score: 9/10

AMER was released on June 6th 2025 via Banshies.

Words: Jake Longhurst

Photos: The Prestige