French sludge metal trio SYCOMORE have released their fifth album, ‘Dégradé‘, available now in co-production with Araki Records.

First introduced through “Chat-Loup” and “Blague Salace”. the album brings together ten tracks shaped by a renewed line-up,

French-language vocals and a more immediate approach to songwriting — without cleaning up the darkness, abrasion or crushing physical weight at the heart of the band.

“Chat-Loup” opened the cycle through fear, pursuit and suffocating pressure, turning the instinct to escape into a collision between hostile gazes and the need to conceal one’s true self. “Blague Salace” then shifted the perspective towards the less orderly reality surrounding the record, with a video assembled from footage collected across an entire year of concerts, journeys, backstage moments and encounters.

‘Dégradé‘ now places both singles inside the wider picture.

Suffocating sludge, dark post-hardcore and abrasive noise rock meet shorter forms, heavier grooves and a renewed sense of urgency. The songs may reach their destination faster, but SYCOMORE have not become any more interested in making the journey comfortable.

Mixed by Etienne Sarthou (AqME, Deliverance) and mastered by Brad Boatright (Code Orange, Torche, Mutoid Man), ‘Dégradé ‘is available now on LP & Digital in coporudtcion with Araki Records.

Formed in Amiens in 2015, SYCOMORE have spent the past decade developing a shape-shifting and uncompromising strain of heavy music across four previous albums released through Source Atone, Argonauta Records and Uproar for Veneration.

With more than one hundred shows behind them, the trio have appeared alongside acts including Amenra, Coilguns, Hangman’s Chair, Oxbow and Will Haven — building a live identity every bit as physical and confrontational as their records.

Their fifth album, Dégradé, introduces another incarnation of SYCOMORE. A renewed line-up, French-language vocals and more concentrated compositions bring the band’s identity into sharper focus, while its underlying ingredients remain reassuringly inhospitable: massive riffs, abrasive textures, damaged grooves and enough pressure to make the walls feel slightly less permanent.

Rather than erasing the mutations heard throughout the band’s previous records, Dégradé concentrates them. Ten years into their story, SYCOMORE sound more direct — not more domesticated.