F4I3LESSE

I rounded it off to the upper unit. I had a special soft spot for this group as they reminded me of a sort of progressive Noir Désir . I speak in the past of this band , as the other album that just came out weeks ago , is a posthumous release , containing what should've been their second album (I just read this and have not heard the album yet)

As for this album , this contains a French-sung fairly hard-edged prog , that could be linked to the incredibly influentail band Noir Désir that would be even more honest ( less raw sounding , though ) and more musically oriented towards progressive arrangements. Too bad that they did not apply those principles on the record sleeve , though. This will appeal mostly to francophones and to others who master the language well , although roughly a third of the album is english-sung. A wortwhile debut with its share of imperfections (although an almost perfect bilingual - I never appreciated those album sung in more than one language GonG albums excepted).

Faiblesse had been for sure a quite solid debut by this band hailing from Grenoble but was on the other hand by far not as great and impressing as its follow-up. There aren't any doubts about the talents and skills of these musicians and one can find here as well a few very good tracks but overall this record suffers of a lack of inspiration in a way. At times one could describe the blend of styles presented here as "Crimson meets Pearl Jam or Noir Desir" depending whether the vocals are in English or French language. Of course the music sounds much more sophisticated than any work of those two grunge/punk bands, it's rather the voice of the singer (which isn't really spectacular BTW) bringing that comparison into one's mind. Strongest influence of this band seams to be Crimson and this fact is here much more obvious than on their second album "Ersatz", especially in the opening title track which could easily be as well by Anglagard if there wouldn't be the (sparse) French vocals. Though sounding highly derivative this one's still one of the better tracks of this disk which is mainly dominated by the two guitarists whereas keyboards have been used more as an atmospheric background. I couldn't say that there isn't any really bad track on here but as well not any really outstanding one. Worth mentioning might be the longest one "Loe" which sounds rather non-typical for them being fully acoustic with percussion. Other "highlights" might be "The Taste Of You" or "Dying For Religion" but not really spectacular on the other hand. To summarize my review, I would say this one's good enough for a solid 3 star rating! Not essential, but maybe an interesting purchase for those who enjoyed already "Ersatz" but don't expect a record that seduces to press immediately the replay button.

This French band plays a guitar driven brand of prog that is often quite heavy with pastoral passages scattered throughout for contrast. There are three instrumental tracks although vocals are used sparingly on the rest of the songs, and are sung in both French and English.The first half of this album is especially strong making me think that we might have a masterpiece here, but the second half is not nearly as amazing.

"Faiblesse" really kicks in after a minute and a half of calm and does it ever remind me of ANEKDOTEN ! The angular guitar, heavy drums and bass is amazing. This song and "Queen Wilson" are my favourites. "Os" opens with organ and there are female vocals.The mellow is again contrasted with the noisy and they let it rip 3 minute in. This sounds like an Alternative Rock song. Heavy ! "Queen Wilson" is an instrumental and check out the drumming and thumping bass.Things get quiet as we can hear the waves of mellotron slowly and softly move.The mellotron starts to build slowly as drums,guitar and bass come in. I'm in heaven at this point. "Marie J." has some great heavy guitar and the drumming is all over the place.There is a long, beautiful guitar solo followed by vocals.

"Vicious Heart" opens with reserved vocals in a tranquil soundscape that changes 3 minutes in to a beautiful straight-forward, catchy song with organ and a blistering guitar solo. "En Depit" is a heavy song as the guitarist fires off a couple of blazing solos.This is heavy duty music. "Spare Yourself The Pain" is a short, mellow 2 minute song with classical guitar. "The Taste Of You" has some great bass in it. The song kicks in around the 2 minute mark to an intense, heavy melody. The song softens later as we are treated to some delicate guitar. Just a warning about the lyrics on this one. Yikes ! "Ma Devise" slowly builds in volume and we get some mellotron as well. The song ends with a great and tasteful guitar solo. "Loe" is a long instrumental of two acoustic guitar melodies with drums.This ones a little tough to get into. "Acore" is another instrumental only better as bombastic passages come and go with some fantastic guitar. "Ile" is a short song with fragile vocals and classical guitar. "Dying For Religion" has this guitar melody that reminds me of OCEANSIZE. The vocals come in as the song becomes mellow. Some drums come in and the guitar is close behind. This one gets heavy to close it out.

This one I can readily recommend to those who like lots of guitar and don't mind a little complexity.