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CD ReviewLes Anges De La Nuit – “Ruins of Victory”By Marcus Pan
Ruins of Victory is one of those CDs that's very difficult to review because I feel like I've heard and written about most of this before. None of the ten tracks here, from The Apocalypse to Reborn – many of them biblical and prophetic in lyrical content – stick well in my head as something I can reference back to. They slide in, play catchily and admittedly well, then slide out like a four minute head rush after smoking your first cigarette in days. We open a bit spacily, choral-like and with spooky thunderstorms and howls with The Apocalypse. By the time Forever and a Day rolls in smoothe and pleasantly, the spookiness has left and it becomes comfortable. That's a good word for Ruins of Victory...comfortable. The rest of the album kind of swaps from comfy to spooky to comfy to spooky, staying solidly within the confines of trance-laced EBM and pop with only occasional jabs at industrial overtones (slightly voxed voices, for example). The mixture of accoustic (sounding) drums with trance of Promise isn't bad. Very nicely sung as well. Again, all the tunes here and good and catchy, but just not overly memorable. Lost Forever gets a little funky and futuristic and strays slightly into the heavier industrial side by lacing up the top synth melody with a bit of steel and angering out the vocals a tad. Back to spooky as I Find Myself sticks to the industrial vein of things, lacing the vocals with windy effects before it gets more humanlike to good effect during choruses. The closing Reborn tries to mix it up a bit, more of a down low drum'n'bass type thing, but it gives me a "too little too late" feeling when put up against the consistent blandness on the rest of Ruins of Victory. If more of the previous were like this then Les Anges De La Nuit would have had my attention from the start. I really did have a tough time writing this review. There's nothing unusual here...Les Anges De La Nuit don't break any rules or bring anything new to the table. If you like this genre, then Ruins of Victory is a solid release for you. Most of us, however, would pick it up if, say, your New Order CDs get stolen out of your car or your Psyche(1) CDs were eaten by the dog and we're looking for a quick fix. Contact Information: (1) I had the pleasure of interviewing Psyche in Legends #116. Click to Buy!
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An even comfort level here. Stoicly within
the boundaries of electro-EBM-style creation with no wanderings hitherto, Les
Anges De La Nuit is comfortable and safe for anyone interested in the genre.
Begun in 2003 by a trio of buds, Les Anges De La Nuit's Ruins of Victory
debut comes to us via Static Sky Records here in the US (Infacted Recordings in
Europe). If you're not so much in an experimental, boundary-pushing mood and
want something smooth and comfy, then Ruins of Victory will provide that
for you.
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