LE POISON QUI REND FOU

If Present's debut album was a fresh spin on an already established band, LE POISON is almost the exact same statement five years later. So fans of the first can easily jump into the second with all of the intensity, macabre, darkness, etc. they love. There is the (horrible) inclusion of operatic vocals in the first part of the title epic, but it doesn't change the fact that LE POISON is still very piano/drum-driven RIO. Somehow the excitement from TRISKAIDEKAPHOBIE vanished here, almost as if LE POISON acts as a ''business as usual'' kind of album.

It would be very interesting to hear LE POISON if there was some horns floating over the music a la Univers Zero. But I'm not going to try to sour grapes for much longer. It's quite good RIO music, but a bit redundant if you've heard the debut.