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The first thing one notices about VNV Nation (well, not really the first thing, but one that is easily apparent on even one listen) is that they have done something very different to EMB. Oh, sure, they have a lot of the traditional crunchy, thumping baselines that sound like somebody pounding on a steel oil drum, and they have the same harsh electro-sound on most of their songs. Yeah, and they have the same dark, gloomy sound -- VNV Nation is especially fond of war scenes and philosophising about war, conquest and violent death. Amidst this "war-hero" and dance beat EBM background, though, VNV Nation is generously touched by beautiful sweeping synth sounds, tender feelings (yeah, really!) and a delicate fragility that only makes the tragedy of the rough violence all the more poignant. Rather than revelling in the harshness of EBM, like most folks do, VNV Nation sets it apart artfully as a real tragedy. The only problem, I think, is that they risk becoming incredibly pretentious in so doing. Read their "bio" on the homepage for Wax Trax! records for instance. Geez, how cheezy is that? The first song, "Chosen" has no harsh beat, for instance, and ends on a delicate piano solo. It has "lyrics," although they're only spoken, not sung, and they don't have real lyrical rhythm. It's kinda an introduction piece before the real EBM starts up in "Joy." "Joy" has the pounding beats you'd expect, a kind of Terminator violence and coldness, and works very nicely as a fairly typical, albeit excellent, piece for the genre. Interestingly enough, it doesn't have too much of that delicate fragility and beauty that I mentioned as a hallmark of VNV Nation as a whole except at the very end. The next song, "Procession," is also hard-hitting, with characteristically distorted vocals, although like their modern counterparts Covenant and Apoptygma Berzerk, VNV Nation doesn't have the really distorted vocals -- the ones that sound like Cookie Monster is shouting them to absolutely no tune whatsoever. All of them actually show significant synthpop influences rather than pure EBM type songs, ala A Split Second or Front 242. The lyrics are also fairly cryptic -- I'm sure that's part of the philosophical pretentions of the group as a whole, but hey!, they can still claim to be artistic and no one can really argue! "Voice" has a nasty, cold, Kraftwerk-on-steroids feel to it as it launches off. The lyrics are fairly repetitive, yet that's one of the charms of this kind of cold, mechanical music. It's good, fairly typical EBM. "Forsaken" is an unusual piece -- it's instrumental, which in and of itself isn't too weird for the genre, yet it doesn't sound much like EBM either. It is delicate, has practically no percussion at all, and sounds like part of a soundtrack to some dark, depressing, futuristic movie, like the Terminator, again, or something like that. The sweeping orchestral strings elevate this song completely out of the genre. Interestingly enough, VNV Nation uses a lot of those same orchestral, soundtrack influences in their more straightforward EBM as well -- songs on this album like "Solitary" are already modern classics. "Ascension" is a more typical EBM instrumental, building up into hard percussion and thumpy beats. It's nice, and features some VNV Nation hallmarks -- music-box tinkling and soaring strings, for instance. The next song, "Honour," is a song with some lyrics again. It has the nice, delicate, fragile feel that I keep referring to, along with hard EBM beats, samples and distorted, melodic vocals. "Burnout" has hard beats, but they're not as driving, and the harsh electro sound is more obvious than in the sometimes tender and pained beauty of "Honour." The best song, and, according to VNV Nation member Ronan Harris, the most important on the album, is "Solitary," also the subject of the Solitary EP. It starts off fragile and beautiful, quickly building up a hard-hitting EBM background. However, throughout the entire song, the beauty and tenderness is never abandoned, despite its club-friendliness. The soaring synth-scapes it creates are delicate, pained, tender yet violent and driving at the same time. It's truly a modern classic -- and the album version presented here did the best at capturing the beauty of the song without drowning it in club beats (although the "Solitude" "version" was even more tender and poignant than this one was.) It's also the last true EBM song on the CD as we don't hear nary a percussion sound for the next three tracks. "PTF2012" is the nominal "title song" of the album. It seems an odd choice for a soaring instrumental that isn't EBM music at all -- or even pop music of any kind. It sounds, actually, like part of the soundtrack from a movie -- one of those kinds of movies where the hero dies horribly in a tragic act of violence, although the strains of hope linger on in this song. Maybe it's some kind of futuristic William Wallace in the remake of Braveheart? Following "PTF2012" we have "Schweigeminute" which means (if my German's up to snuff) Minute of Silence, more or less. Sure enough -- it's exactly sixty seconds of silence. Artistically interesting, although obviously this is future skip material! Finally, there is an unnamed track at the end of the CD, which is also gentle and soft, with no percussion whatsoever. This one is almost ethereal sounding. If "PTF2012" is the eulogy of our hero throughout the fictional movie that this is the soundtrack of, then this unnamed track is his ascension into heaven after his death -- slow, relaxing and beautiful.
Overall, the album is an extremely interesting one. Although fans of typical EBM will find much that they like here in songs like "Joy," "Procession," "Voice," "Honour" and "Solitary" there is actually a good deal more to be found here -- beautiful soundtrack-like influences and soaring classical influences, melodic and lyrical synthpop influences and more. The music is called EBM by the band itself, but it refuses to be too tightly pigeonholed into that genre, or any other.
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