With an 11-year career, the band didn’t make it big by chance. From the south of France, and mostly from Marseille, Florent Salfati (Vocals), Nicolas Exposito (Guitar) and Rudy Purkat (bass) always worked hard to climb the ladder. With a self produced album, Hollow, in 2016 and playing Hellfest the same year, LANDMVRKS literally took off. Their metalcore sound appealed in such a way that the German label, Arising Empire, signed them 2 years later, and that’s where they released the great Fantasy. LANDMVRKS are all about an organic sound, a catchy and engaging phrasing, and moreover, a really well-mastered sound. Nothing is messy, everything is just meticulous. The band defended their project at the French Download Festival in 2018 in front of both established followers and newfound fans.
Those drawn by the band’s populairty coming for a long time. Their label provided them with a springboard and the band effortlessly continued on the road, building up their community through Europe, between concerts and festivals. France is a country that shunned metal music, mystifying it and is one more likely to advocate for rap and other similar pursuits. But regardless, the quintet made their mark throughout the continent, and even above and beyond.
The rest of Europe has always been eager about extreme music, and it was easily conquered by their music style. When supporting prestigious acts such as Stray From The Path, While She Sleeps, or even Bring Me The Horizon and Sum 41, they could only continue to arise further and beyond. Nonetheless, the band never shied away from France, and they are now seen as a national treasure in these parts, proof of which is in their latest tour across the country, alongside the likes of Boston Manor or Aurore. They also played at home, in 2019, at the Espace Julien, and did a live recording of that show. They always figure out how to satisfy their community and maintain that link with them.
Between 2017 and 2019, Paul Cordebard (guitar) and Kévin d’Agostino (drums) joined the band to bring them their final touch, with a new variety of inspirations, to consolidate the project and push it even further. The band’s cohesion can be felt through the members, as much as through their scenic performances and their music.
That’s how Lost In The Waves came to life. The album, released in 2021, gave a huge slap in the face to the hardcore scene and definitely settled the landscape they succeeded to build. It has a breathtaking flow, and, even, to everyone’s surprise, is in French. Persistence and audacity are words that describe LANDMVRKS and why they are here today. Between the great singles ‘Lost In A Wave’, ‘Visage’ (Face), or even ‘Paralyze’, French people easily navigate their various musical influences and creativity.
Related: LANDMVRKS – The Darkest Place I’ve Ever Been | Album Review
Despite the pandemic in 2021, they offered a livestream, with the bands that they should have toured with; Resolve and Glassbone. Speaking of reinventing themselves, they would not stop here as they would also create their own festival, the Mvrksfest, at La Belle Friche de Mai, in Marseille. This was a 3-day event, which happened in November 2023 with bands from the same metal scene, almost all French-speaking, pairing music and board sports, a tempting offer. And then, the following year, they quickly replaced the Americans of Bad Omens on Hellfest’s Main Stage, sandwiched between Megadeth and Avenged Sevenfold.
As of today, in 2025, the French quintet just sold out the Molotov in Marseille in the blink of an eye, with another show announced just one month prior, as a celebration of their 10 year career.
LANDMVRKS do not owe their success to luck, but to a workforce and a flawless originality, where only the sky’s the limit. They present their next chapter with the new album, The Darkest Place I’ve Ever Been.
They’re back with their touches of French rap, as for tracks such as ‘Sombre 16′ (Dark 16) or the now iconic ‘Blood Red.’ The French band worked hard and got one step ahead. So, playing the Olympia was simply obvious.
There, they orchestrated a perfect choreography of a set list of songs, invited some friends on stage (Bert Poncet of Chunk! No, Captain Chunk!, Anthony Diliberto of Resolve) and also Kasper to play the piano in the introduction of ‘Paralyzed’. They even created a performance of ‘Sombre 16′ with Flo himself painting the ‘V’ of LANDMVRKS with a bomb on a canvas. Lights, words being shouted on screen, everything was a pure show. And just like magicians, at the end, they showed some footage of past years of the band, and, suddenly ‘LANDMVRKS, 31,01,26 Zenith de Paris’ was shown with a QR code leading to a sale page to buy tickets for next year’s show.
It is a fact, LANDMVRKS are a band that have always reinvented themselves, who are always thinking of a new creative way to share their experience with their fans and create that sense of community amongst them. As one would say in French: C’est Marseille, bébé!