Customer Reviews

Empires

5 star:		(48)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I become hooked on VNV Nation when I picked up their latest album "Futureperfect". Being a fan of industrial and trance music, I flipped over the perfect blend of industrial and dance music. The lyrics really spoke volumes to me. The angst, the bleakness, and then the redemption. A friend of mine recently burned "Standing" on a compilation of goth/darkwave music, and I automatically fell in love with the song itself. I found myself replaying the song over and over again. So I knew then "Empires" would be my next VNV Nation album to add to my cd collection. Once I heard "Empires", I immediately loved the album. Ronan Harris has one of the sexiest voices I have ever heard. I can't really describe it except to say that it is a bit monotonous yet foreboding. "Empires" is filled with heavenly trance beats, more so than "Futureperfect" I think. Asides from "Standing", I just absolutely loved "Kingdom" with the sweeping grandeur of the synthesized beats and the struggle to 'turn darkness into light' in the lyrics but all the songs on this album are excellent. VNV Nation is an excellent example that not all industrial bands have to be as abrasive as KMFDM and Ministry. They are dark and heavy yet melodic and infectious. I just can't get enough of this band. They are definitely one of my personal favorite bands to date.

Electronic music is capable of expressing a variety of moods and atmosphere; surreal, dark, happy, sad....I've heard them all done well. Up until listening to this album, agression wasn't strongly represented. VNV Nation is the first electronic band who has come through in this respect so strongly.

The more you listen to Empires, the more you come to appreciate. From the explosive "Kingdom" to the almost melancholy "Arclight", the album takes hold and doesn't let go. Most of the songs rotate around a central theme both musically and lyrically, giving the cd an almost cinematic feel. The rhythms are simple and familiar, but performed with suprising mastery for such a young outfit. Agressive, driving and with an absolutely huge sound...Empires will likely place VNV Nation among the top of the electro-industrial genre...as they should be.

Topping their previous album Praise The Fallen, would normally be quite the task. There was very little room for improvement. I know that a lot of people were worried that Empires would just be a rehash of PTF. I'm happy to say that Empires more than lives up to the task, even surpasing their previous albums in emotion and skill.

All the classic VNV elements are here: harsh electronic beats, sweeping synths and strings, and Ronan's unique vocals. The songs are in the same vein as PTF, about the beauty and darkness of strife and struggle. The first and last tracks, "firstlight" and "arclight" blend together seemlessly (being nearly the same song), creating a cycle of sound and structure unifying the work. It's art. "Darkangel" and "Standing" have already become singles in Europe and are both excellent tracks, VNV's best to date, but other appealing songs include "rubicon" and "distant(rubicon II)." Distant has a slow, drifting sound, free of the assembly-line industrial backbeat so common to VNV. A welcome change of pace.

The duo of Empires and Praise The Fallen will become classics in the EBM world, if they haven't already. stop reading and listen to them already!

While we all know that futurepop refers to the excellent synth music generated by VNV, Apoptygma Berzerk, Covenant, Assemblage 23 and many legions of followers circa 1998 through present, it should be noted that this album marks the moment the term became meaningful; This was FuturePop. It's stark, grand, beautiful, sweeping, dark, soul-searching and megalomaniacal all set to a pounding, pulsating beat. In other words, it's everything the post-industrial, neo-Gothic soul ever wanted and then some.

While 'Praise the Fallen' was brilliant, 'Empires' took the sound to a new level and crystallized for all where the scene was going to go. It's almost pointless to go into specific detail on the songs as they are all amazing and equally essential to the development of the complete work. If you must pick singles or tracks to play in the DJ booth, then you'd probably focus on these: "Kingdom", "Rubicon", "Standing", "Legion" and "Darkangel" (not written as 2 words the way Amazon shows it). All are masterful - strong enough to make you dance, smart enough to make you think and deep enough to make you feel. If you're lucky enough to own the import-only, ultra-rare, double-CD of the "Standing" single (aka 'Burning Empires'), then you'll get the vocal version of "Saviour", astounding remixes of the hits from this album, and the mind-blowing bonus tracks "Anachron" and "Further".

In summary, this is the definitive and probably still the best FuturePop album; Anyone who loves electronic music will explode with joy upon hearing this. Anyone who loves Goth or Electronic Industrial should already have this... if you don't you've danced to it 1,000 times in clubs anyway but you still need it.

VNV Nation is unequaled in the industrial/goth/electro scene. I've been into the scene since the 80's and the vast majority of the music, I hate to say, is crap. Tacky vocals, lyrics that could be written by a chimp, or horrible music that sounds like it's written on a $50 keyboard is typical. If you're lucky you can find a band that can master one or two of these areas. VNV stands out far from the rest because they are the rare band able to master it all.

The vocals fit the music. The music whether soft or hard is full and powerful and emotional ranging from ethereal to strobelight stomp. The lyrics set VNV apart from anything else and are the most poetic of anything I've heard from this scene, or any other for that matter. It is beauty. Buy the album, or download Legion and play it while reading the lyrics. I interpret this song as being about daydreams of greatness and contemplation as that greatness becomes a reality for Ronan. Throwing in a word like anachronistic is too much to ask from most "artists" in the scene, but Ronan not only uses it, but uses it flawlessly in context. There are many bands with simple lyrics with Jesus-bashing as a popular subject; however, VNV transcends this with lyrics and subject matter that are spiritual, positive and epic in nature, evoking thought and feeling while setting these lyrics to melancholic music that goes with Autumn like the falling of the leaves. In short, VNV writes complete songs and that is what makes them more listenable than any other band I've heard. Legion, Standing, Darkangel and Kingdom are my favorites on this album, but the whole album is incredible.

After going to the club one night and having a great evening years ago and dancing to Legion, I awoke from a great sleep to a beautiful autumn day and while still laying down played Standing and Darkangel and that's when I fell in love, both with the band and the album. Since then I've seen them twice live here in Philly and I have to say that they are surprisingly one of the best live acts in the scene as well. Praise the fallen and Futureperfect are great albums as well. Also check out the various remixes. The C92 version of Genesis is another one of my favorites. If you want something a little spooky listen to Honor off of PTF while remembering the images of the twin towers falling.

If anyone knows of a more complete band, send me the name at buckjohnsonus@yahoo.com. I don't want to fight about which band is the best. I just love great music and VNV IS great music and anything that is only slightly inferior to VNV is probably still worlds above much of the rest. If you can't tell, I, like many others, have a passion for VNV. Even if you don't develop the same passion for the band, it's worth the gamble because if it pays off it will be the best $15 you ever spent.

I never was a huge fan of industrial-dance, but something about this album keeps me hooked.
It doesn't have the kind of dark-angry-hateful feel that so many artists in this genre seem to be stuck on. Don't get me wrong, it is dark, just not in a screaming-til-you-get-laryngitis sort of way.
I was amazed at the level of emotion VNV was able to put in their music without turning the lyrics into garbage.
Dark Angel is an awesome song, and I'm sure it'd be even better on a dance floor.
The highlight of this album (for me) has to be Legion. For any fan of 80's synth-pop, this one blows you away. The beat is so catchy yet the lyrics stick true to VNV's style without changing the mood of the song.

The bottom line is if you are a fan of good dance/electronica/techno, and you appreciate the value of good lyrics, then at least give VNV a try. Empires is a great album for those not familiar with VNV, but Praise the Fallen would be better to try first. For fans of VNV, Empires is probably the best.

This CD is quite simply VNV Nation's masterpiece. A brooding, agressive CD filled with anger, angst, hatred and death.

Empires is a concept album, based upon the axiom that all empires end in the same way as they begin: The ashes of destruction and the fires of war. As the CD makes its way through the explosive idealism of Kingdom, the ecstatic machinations of Saviour, the solemn tension of Standing and Legion, and eventually the horrific destruction of Darkangel, the reader is subjected to emotional assaults such as feelings of power, helplessness, horror, triumph and anguish.

These emotional assaults are due to two factors, these being the music, and the lyrics. The lyrics are dark, highly intelligent, poetic, and genuinely deep, with a feeling of a blend between Hitler speeches and Joy Division.

However, it is the outstanding music that has to be given credit for the majority of the CD. VNV Nation sound like a mixture between Industrial, Synthpop and Classical music and, for some reason, go well with all three kinds. The Industrial element is the percussion and basslines, which are (for EBM) harsh, arpeggiated, distorted and raw. Such a savagery requires a heavy element of melody to balance it, and this is done perfectly with the Synthpop and Classical elements. This is very similar to Wolfsheim, Iris and the less minimalist synth groups, with a very thick sound, heavily exploiting its artificiality. However, with the mechanical sounds are a large amount of Strings and orchestral instruments, giving a usually mechanical style of music a very human and organic feel. Furthermore, the structure of the music is very Orchestral, bestowing upon it the epic nature that makes this CD so unutterably breathtaking.

Empires sounds like the Berlin Symphony Orchestra at a Bauhaus Concert being massacred by chainsaw-wielding Nazis. This is a compliment of the highest order.

Whatever deficiencies that Praise The Fallen had are completely remedied here. The percussion is far less basic on this album, and many more songs manage to sound balanced, as opposed to overly synthy or overly industrial.

I cannot express my adoration for this album enough. This album is the perfect example of modern EBM. Less minimalist than the original style, and far more complex. This is the Front By Front of the new millenium.

This is a standout work in the electronic/industrial scene. VNV Nation's music has really matured from earlier work, even Praise the Fallen. This CD is a great continuation of where PTF left off. Bands like VNV and APB are really injecting new life into the industrial scene and its about time! Empires is an imaginative forray into mankinds pointless efforts to realize a utopian ideal on Earth. I love the orchestral aspect of this CD. Its like classic music played against a hardcore aggro backbeat. Ronan's vocal style is perfectly suited for the seriousness of the music and lyrical subject matter. Outsiders may judge it to be a bit heady. Sure it is! That's why we love it! Are you going to tell me that something like Empires warrants less artistic merit than the latest marketing gimmick schlock crap from Nsync? This is serious music for the brooding intellgentsia. It is a beautiful work. One of the best conceptual industrial music CD's I've heard. I look forward to more work from VNV Nation. Saviour is awesome. Distant (Rubicon II) is a great synth/vocal combo that is so lyrically heavy it makes you depressed, or estatic. Standing is another great track which features some great keyboard acrobatics. They're all really good tracks. Not a bad one on the entire disc. This is a must have for your collection.

In some respects I'm glad and sad this album was made. Glad because it contains so many of my favorite songs. Sad because I have yet to see VNV make another album that comes close to equaling it.

This album is probably the best place to start for becomming introduced to VNV Nation and EBM as well.

A mighty brillian album. Words truly cannot convey my emphasis on that last statement.

This album has a really atmospheric, storytelling feel, although you could probably make up the actual story yourself....it puts over an epic feel, the sound of highest points and lowest depths of some central character's progress through a great saga of triumphs and disappointments. The vocalist has a very warm and even tone, there are no Beyonce-style vocal acrobatics here, but he has a deeper, more emotive tone than you find with, for instance, Covenant. The album's overall feel is melancholy but without descending too far into the netherworld of self-pity. If you like the more melancholy works of Depeche Mode, some Covenant and Apoptygma Berzerk, then this may well appeal to you. If your tastes reach more toward Project Pitchfork, Knorkator and Front 242, you may find the vocal line uninspiring. If you don't know who any of these bands are, you need to get out more.