Deliverance – The Voyager Golden Banquet

Founded in 2013 by Etienne Sarthou (guitar, Karras, ex-AqME, Freitot) and Pierre Duneau (vocals & keyboards, ex-Memories of a Dead Man), French metal band Deliverance released their first EP Doomsday Please, followed by their debut album CHRST. However, it was truly with their second and third albums that Deliverance established themselves as a cornerstone of the French avant-garde metal scene. Now signed to the esteemed label Les Acteurs de l’Ombre, their fourth opus The Voyager Golden Banquet got released on May 22, 2026.

The official band line-up for Deliverance on their 2026 avant-garde/black/sludge metal album, The Voyager Golden Banquet, consists of the following four members: Pierre Duneau (vvocals and keyboards), Etienne Sarthou (guitars and backing vocals), Sacha Février (bass) and Viken Poulain (drums).

First thing noticable is the quartet’s ability to brilliantly fuse the elements of black metal, sludge, doom and spacey psych-rock. The Voyager Golden Banquet clocks in at roughly 43 minutes over eight structurally diverse and varied tracks. “Hellisual” is the album’ opener featuring some bright and almost soothing tones, while gradually introducing dissonance that suddenly erupts, affirming its slow & sticky sludge roots, before returning to their haunting slowness. Meanwhile, the following track, “Chasing the Dragon” already showcases band’s experimental and progressive side, including some ‘spacey keyboards’ sounds. “Headspace Collapse” also has a substantial spacey rock influences – suitably, given the album cover. The fourth track on the album, “Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out” acts as one of the record’s definitive standouts, (the track spans just over 8 minutes) functioning as a major experimental pillar at the center of the record. The track titled “As Above, So Below” is a bit different again, futuristic spoken-word interlude that prepares the listener for the crushing doom riffs that follow. It leads into the sixth track on the album, “Ground Zero”, which I consider one of the heaviest and most oppressive cuts on the record, when unleashing crushing doom riffs that perfectly alternate with ethereal and swelling melodies. The album concludes with a two-part suite, “The Banquet” which acts as the conceptual climax of the entire record. First comes the penultimate composition “The Banquet – Part I”, as it stands out as the emotional and stylistic climax of the entire record. Ultimately, the closing track on the album is a brief 2 minutes and 49 seconds “The Banquet – Part II”. Where “Part I” builds a heavy and progressive five-minute foundation, “The Banquet – Part II” delivers the final transition into the great unknown. It functions as the definitive emotional and sonic resolution to the record.

The cover illustration, created by artist Pauline Talarn, visually captures the album’s concept of a solitary space odyssey. The sonic architecture of The Voyager Golden Banquet was carefully crafted by metal heavyweights to achieve its grand, cinematic scale; mixing & engineering was handled by guitarist – Etienne Sarthou at ‘Hemlig Studio’ in Saint-Ouen. Mastering was managed by Magnus Lindberg at ‘Redmount Studio’ in Stockholm, ensuring a massive, crisp and dynamic soundstage. The atmosphere feels distinct, claustrophobic, apocalyptic and surreal, with contrasting the sonic textures.

Conclusion; The Voyager Golden Banquet invites the listener to leave Earth and its landmarks to lose themselves in the labyrinth of the vast unknown. It’s a space odyssey that paints a more cinematic sonic landscape than ever before. This new release reflects artists in search of an inner peace that can only be found by embarking on an all-or-nothing adventure – ‘a quest for light with no possibility of return’.

If you are an avant-garde metal lover, or/and if you enjoy bands like Oranssi Pazuzu, Pink Floyd, Cult of Luna, Yob, Amenra, Regarde Les Hommes Tomber and Alcest, this record is a mandatory listen! For a deeper sonic dive into this fourth studio record from Deliverance, visit the Les Acteurs de l’Ombre Productions Bandcamp page.