PERSECUTION - review added 21st May 2009
Album Review: Persecution (2009)
For fans of: Proggy Symphonic Metal... and Gallic madness
French band Invictus, featuring Michael Fitrzyk (guitars), Ferderic Glo (lead Vocals), Raphael Leger (drums) and Nicolas Acard (bass), boast a phenomenally strange mix of sounds and styles.
One moment, with first track 'Face To Face (Part I)' as a prime example, they sound like Muse performing a Black Sabbath track in a church hall. Next moment (literally) they head down rue de la power metal. 'Kill The Dogs' is a gnarly speed fest with bags of intrigue and a lethal dose of character. The haunting female vocalizing interludes are hugely atmospheric.
'Silence Of Death' has hints of modern metal bands like My Chemical Romance. It is considerably more straight ahead in sound than the two previous songs, not that that necessarily means a lot.
'Agony Of War' is certainly something. It starts off as a touching acoustic piece about the agonies of war (as the title may suggest), but then goes into a cycle of vocal samples from military leaders and warmonger types. It's an evocative piece and devastatingly emotional the first time you hear it, but after the 2nd or 3rd run through the sampling starts to grate.
'Spiral' has an almost dance-like guitar sound with industrial overtones, whilst 'Face To Face' (Parts II and III) goes from instrumental pop and thrash to an acoustic downbeat ballad. 'The Eclipse Of The World' climbs back on the heavy-Muse wagon and 'See You Back' morphs into a Eurovision-esque take on Bruce Dickinson's solo career.
'Demons' sounds uncannily like Iced Earth. Seriously, it's eerie. The penultimate track 'Rosy Rose' sounds refreshingly non-mental. It's battle metal-like in it's rhythms and time-changes, but still pleasantly melodious and interesting.The last track is a live song called 'The Angels' which, if it is genuinely live (it sounds a tad studio recorded to me), is one of the better tracks on the album.
This album is more of an experience than anything else. It's hard to compare it to normal releases because it simply isn't normal. Parts of it are utterly mesmerising. Other sections sound as appetizing as a bowl of cat food. For a band that's been around for over ten years it's surprising they don't have more of a 'sound'. Or perhaps they do. Perhaps their 'sound' really is this schizophrenic.
Whatever the truth, this is an album you need to hear. It isn't brilliant, but it's different in a very good way. Just make sure you bring along your straitjacket.
Check out... The craziness of it all.
Track List:
1. Face To Face (Part I)
2. Kill The Dogs
3. Silence Of Death
4. Agony Of War
5. Spiral
6. Face To Face (Part II)
7. Face To Face (Part III)
8. The Eclipse Of The World
9. See You Back
10. Demons
11. Rosy Rose
12. The Angels (bonus live)
Label: Escape Music
Artist's websites: Invictus
