Customer Reviews

Futureperfect

5 star:		(47)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

If I could I wouldn't change a thing about this album! Although I'm quite a fanatic now 'Futureperfect' was my introduction to any kind of Industrial music. I downloaded "Beloved" from the Internet and the first time I heard that song I was positively floored! The words are somewhat melancholy but the bittersweet lyrics are interlaced with melodic EBM and passionate vocals by Ronan Harris and it is the best ballad I have yet to hear by any Industrial band. I tend to gravitate more toward female voxes but he's quickly become a preference of mine. In fact, just behind Dave Gahan of Depeche Mode he is my favorite male singer.

A lot of people associate Industrial music as being repetitious with no emotion but I can assure you that not all groups in this genre sound remotely close to that description. There are many feelings to be felt in VNV Nation's music. 'Futureperfect' doesn't even start with any type of dance beat. Lush string orchestrations open on "Foreword" with a powerful message spoken in English, German and then French (or at least I think) before diving into a pounding rhythm. There are plenty of hits here destined for the Gothic club scene but they truly shine their brightest on their slower numbers. "Holding On", for example, is a moving song and one of their strongest deliveries with gorgeous synth lines and piano chords mingling in with the ever-changing cadence (tempo). Many beautiful instruments can actually be heard throughout the elaborate sequences of this album but whatever your inclination there's enough here to keep any Industrial fan entranced.

From start to finish this record is a glorious triumph... There's no need for skipping tracks, that's for certain.

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS!

{FYI: VNV stands for "Victory Not Vengeance"}

Next to 'Empires', this CD 'Future Perfect' is a journey through electronica genius thanks to one very talented musician Ronan Harris who incidently does the lyrics and vocals for the music he mixes and produces to great quality and quantity. The songs are great dance rhythms or better yet chillout trance songs to lay down to. My favourite song of VNV is on this CD release and that song is probably the more industrial and moody song on the album 'Holding On'. This song explores the interlinked relationship we hold with each other and this fragile planet. The lyrics for this song is a standout. The songs 'Genesis' and 'Structure' carry the album with decent high pitched industrial synths. The last song 'Airships', ends the album with a moving tribute to the human race. Overall this album is a must for any fan of trance electronica or industrial music. These two genres are fused together very well here. Thanks Ronan for such a A+ album.

"Futureperfect" is one of those grand experiments that is destined to polarize fans, who will view it as either a masterpiece or an abject failure. In this case, I think it was a resounding success, albeit one with a few minor quibbles. Stylistically, this marks a departure from VNV's earlier albums in a way that's really hard to capture. Even though their work is essentially 100% electronic, their older albums always had the feeling that they were relics, antiquated. Starting with this album, everything is oriented towards the future instead of the past -- it sounds necessarily electronic rather than accidentally so. It's partly a shift from classical themes, like the recurrent themes of Rome on some of their older albums, to full-on modernity.

However, this album also sets up some unhappy legacies. For one, all of their subsequent releases are downhill from here, and largely because they all feel like they are in one way or another derivative of this album. Also, this album is really the catalyst that set off futurepop as a full-blown subgenre, which is an atrocity in and of itself. But to judge this album entirely based on its halfhearted imitators would be unfair, so we must examine it on its own merits.

The "intro" track is a panglossal admonition that is musically uninteresting. Perhaps it would have been better as just words without the backdrop? Even so, its message of universality is a little diminished by the fact that the message only repeats three languages -- all western, European ones at that. Feels a little contrived. I usually skip it.

"Epicentre" is really the prime mover, and move it does. This is a near-perfect blend of club sensibility, dramatic (but not drama-filled) lyrics, and excellent presentation. However, its real strength is a setup for "Electronaut," which even as an instrumental is probably one of the best songs they've ever done. And even more bizarre is the utter exuberance one feels seeing it performed live. A true masterpiece of its kind, whatever kind it may be.

And then, just to remind you that they're not perfect, they follow the best song on the album with not one but two bits of fluffy, bland filler. No matter how good the sandwich is, if there's a slice of cardboard in it, it ain't perfect. Two slices, and I'm starting to wonder how much I paid for it. "Liebestod" is dull. I don't know if they're real strings or synth-strings, but I haven't listened to it enough to find out or care. If I wanted to hear a proper string arrangement, I'd go listen to something that sounded decent. Barber's "Adagio" comes to mind. And "Holding On"...don't get me started. Ronan's vocals sound forced. The delivery isn't good. The synth-choir in the background is also bad. The lyrics aren't even anywhere up to par. Ronan can do slow, sad songs very well. His vocal version of "Forsaken" from the Solitary EP is a shining example of this fact. This is nothing like it. Avoid at all costs.

To make up for it, they drop another bomb out of the blue -- the ponderous, slowly pounding "Carbon," which does everything right that the last two songs failed to do. It's a real gem, another of their best. The music is layered and methodical; in fact, it's a real sonic departure from just about anything they've done previous to this album.

The next track, "Genesis," is the "big single" but it took some time to grow on me. It's a really pounding song, fairly abrasive for a VNV single, but the repetitive samples and the somewhat lackluster lyrics kept me away for a long time. Still, it's not a bad song, but it could have been better. "Fearless" sets up the first in the chain of fast, repetitive, kinda-aggressive tracks that occupies the nether-regions of every VNV album to follow ("Entropy," "Nemesis," et al). Again, not a bad song per se, but nothing to write home about. And "Structure" occupies the "noise" space that they occasionally decide to fill, a la "Fragments," and frankly it's not a bad piece but again, nothing spectacular.

"4 AM" is a brief vignette that provides a transition from the pulsing noisefest of the last track to the ambivalent ballad of "Beloved," which is one of those songs I keep vacillating between liking and disliking, much in the same way that Ronan seems to vacillate between love and loss over the course of the song. Again, like the last run, it's not fantastic, but maybe that's because they had to fire their biggest salvo early with some of their best songs -- if they weren't there for comparison this might sound better. Still, the song has its high points, definitely. The alternation between the quiet, anticipatory parts and the quick dance-y parts works in its favor by keeping it interesting and defraying its relative length.

By the time the coda rolls around, you're not really sure what to expect, and "Airships" delivers one of the few genuinely optimistic and happy VNV tracks to date, and almost certainly one of the only ones to not fall flat on its face. In that regard, it's a comparatively good track, and a suitable closure for this album.

In all, while it may seem like I'm a little more critical of many of the tracks on "Futureperfect," it is only contrasted to how great its high points really are. If I hand you a pile of precious and semi-precious stones, you might only notice the diamonds and emeralds, even though the amethyst and onyx are pleasing in their own right. Still, the album is not without its faults, and unfortunately we're still waiting for a worthy successor. One of these days, I'm sure the band will get back on track...or they'll release another album as bad as "Matter+Form" and I'll finally motivate myself to kick the habit.

This is one of the best music purchases I have made in a decade. VNV Nation has long been a hit overseas, and I thank my satellite radio for tuning them in to me. "Futureperfect" is one of the most artistically creative blends of poetry, synth, and technical editing in the genre of darkwave/alternative/industrial. VNV Nation doesn't fit perfectly into any of those categories, but instead, each song reflects a different category. The only constant in all songs is band founder Ronan Harris' compelling voice singing remarkable prose. A few songs on the CD are instrumental: One that is a pure classical strain, another trance-techno. Their creative blend of alternative sounds: An actual recording of Apollo 8 astronaut reading from Genesis, blended with uplifting techno and Harris' lyrics of man's inconquerable spirit is pure inspiration.

Another incredible aspect of this CD, is how every single song speaks of the future in some way, coinciding with the CD title. "Genesis" tells the hope for man's future through his brave outlook. The most memorable ballad, "Eternity" recalls a man telling his deceased love that even the pain of his lost love is a treasure because means he can still feel, and he's hopeful of the future because one day they'll be together again for eternity. In a world of music without meaning, or flat-out nihilism, VNV is a rare find.

Some of the synth work is remeniscent of very early Depheche Mode, but the blending of sounds and poetry, along with the tracks of piano music and then pure, danceable techno is all VNV's.

Since I purchased "Futureperfect," every single person who hears it has demanded a copy. I am happy to say that it was not a fluke, I have just purchased "Matter & Form" (2005) and unlike most groups and singers, VNV sticks with what works. They can count at least 7 new fans since my purchase of "Futureperfect" alone. You don't even have to like techno or darkwave to appreciate the perfection of this group.

VNV Nation are one of those bands who with every album have progressed into newer territories and pushing the envelope of what both the band and the genre they're in are capable of. They are one of the only bands out there to combine the fury of industrial with the appeal of pop, mixing throbbing militaristic beats with symphonic grace and intelligent lyrics. "Futureperfect" follows up what was one of the best EBM albums ever to be released, 2000's "Empires," and while the sounds has certainly changed dramatically since then, the purity of the band's message has not. VNV's music is just the kind of electronic relief needed for anybody suffering from a waning industry of pop icons and low-quality regurgitations of past successes. Their lyrics, poetic and inciteful, beckoning us to question our world that we have created and what we plan to do about it. "Futureperfect" is an album that tells us that we are not what was intended...but we have a chance to make it better.

The music is far less upbeat than "Empires" or "Praise the Fallen," focusing less on the pounding dancefloor rhythms, and more on the lyrics and the lush orchestrations. Fans of "Forsaken" from "Praise the Fallen" or "Distant (Rubicon II)" from "Empires" will enjoy this album. The majority of it is in that same vein of soft melodic symphonics. The best of these songs are "Carbon," and the album closer, "Airships." Those looking for the harder dance hits will be satisfied with "Epicentre," "Genesis," and "Fearless." Ronan Harris' voice takes on a more tired and weary turn on this album, sounding less effected and more genuine. He's much more off-key than he usually is, but the album as a whole was done in a short time. The album is not flawless, in some areas it feels as if more time and care could have been taken in the production, but as a whole the album is very well done.

It is rare to find a band with a social conscience actually express themselves in their music without sounding pretentious or snobby, let alone sounding like a group of whiners. VNV Nation do not whine, nor do they preach...they tell it like it is, adn they ask us questions that need answering...are we happy with our world? If not, what can we do about it? And most importantly, what WILL we do about it? Like the message it delivers, "Futureperfect" is an album that is a good mix reflection and looking ahead. It encompasses all that is good about VNV Nation's past, and shows the band progressing forward. Sure the sound is different, and the flow of the album could have been better, but a band is like any living organism...if it remains stagnant, it doesn't evolve and thus it ultimately dies. I'm glad to see VNV Nation are not letting this happen to either themselves or to us.

Touted by many as a far more mainstreamed VNV Nation album, I was afraid of what I would find. I had fallen in love with their previous deliveries, and I couldn't imagine something more conventional coming from the VNV mouthpiece. Still, remembering that people call any artist's attempt to expand and explore "a step into the mainstream," I went out and purchased the album. Happily, I was impressed by this latest attempt.
Besides the sometimes redundant club mixes that seem to saturate the modern market, VNV also delivered a slower, more haunting side to themselves that seemed to be missing before. This seemed to expand the already expansive scope of VNV talent, highlighting the poetic lyrics and driven sounds as well. I would have to highly recommend this album, and would also have to advise people not to put too much stock in name-calling.

This is the only VNV Nation cd I have bought...YET. And actually, only out of convenience (Hastings had it). I have sort of an eighth sense about cds (the sixth and seventh haven't been identified yet). I can tell if it's good just by the overall feel of the cover art, font, layout, song titles, album title, and...something else that isn't tangible or explainable. It's been a very long time since I've bought a cd that hasn't been completely amazing to me (Razed In Black's "Damaged" gave me faith in music again). I had heard the Icon of Coil version of "Genesis" on the Cleopatra "This Is Neo-Goth" compilation (compiled by Razed In Black's Romell coincidentally) and was amazed. After listening to FUTUREPERFECT, I think I actually like the original version better. Here are my thoughts on the songs:

Foreword - A needed wake-up call for anyone who has become so cynical that they thought there was no way to help our world. That was me before I heard this track. I like the multilingual aspect too, English, German, and French, I think.

Epicentre - A very danceable fun-to-listen-to song, if you don't really dwell on the lyrics.

Electronaut - This is what instrumentals are supposed to sound like, real structure and substance. It really sounds like a song that just had the lyrics removed.

Liebestod - I got a C in German so I'm not quite sure what it means, but since it's an instrumental I really don't care. It's just beautiful and soft.

Holding On - A very good song with decent lyrics. I'm not really a good judge on lyrics most of the time, though.

Carbon - Beautiful and poignant with its message.

Genesis - This is such a great song for so many reasons. I'm not a Christian anymore and never will be again, but the quotes from Genesis are just fine even for someone like me. They're really all about conveying the wonder of seeing a sunrise while orbiting the moon. Another danceable song. By the way, who was on Apollo 8?

Structure - I don't really know what to say about this song. It reminds me of "At the Heart of It All" by Aphex Twin on the Nine Inch Nails "Further Down the Spiral" cd. The bomb attack instructions are interesting.

Fearless - Yet another very danceable song with cool lyrics. You know, I really love the vocals on all of these songs.

4am - Um, ok, whatever floats your boat. I feel lost.

Beloved - Another beautiful masterpiece of modern music. This is by far my favorite song on the cd, and one of my favorite songs of all time now. The lyrics are incredible, and literally bring a tear to my eye. The production, composition, and lyrics of the song are absolutely flawless. Anyone who listens to music at all should hear this song.

Airships - I must really be missing something important here. There must be symbology somewhere in this song, but I can't quite figure it out. I feel like such a goon now. Maybe I'll listen to it some more....

Well, that's the opinion of me, the guy who is one of 3 billion people on this planet but might some day make a difference. The same goes for you. I believe everyone on this world is put here for a reason. Some people never realize it, and the world suffers. Others realize it, and the world prospers. If you too are losing faith in music, pick up this cd, Wolfsheim's "Spectators", Razed In Black's "Damaged", and that Neo-Goth Compilation. Actually, anything by Razed In Black is phenomenal. His "Starf*ckers Inc." remix is insane. FUTUREPERFECT is a Masterpiece of Musical Genius.

Having just picked up this album and witnessed the band play in Cambridge, VNV has become one of my favorite groups. Ronan is the most involved and personally connected with his audience of any performer I've ever seen live, and he really drives the audience into a frenzy. On the other hand, the music itself in the live experience is a bit remote, i.e. heavily dependent on pre-programmed tracks, even relative to other industrial/EBM acts, with Ronan only singing and Mark Jackson only playing percussion throughout most of the concert. They do what they can to compensate though, adding new and different variations on the album versions of songs, including a chilling chorus on "Foreword;" incredible new vocals on songs that are only instrumental on the album, such as "Forsaken:" Ronan and Mark actually both play keyboards on a really long take of "Electronaut;" and the music is complemented throughout by a slide show fascinating in its own right. This album, while a bit toned down from their previous work so it's not so much electro-industrial as much as synthpop, also happens to be one of the most creative, impassioned, and danceable efforts anywhere in the genre lately. Nowhere is the transition to synthpop more complete or more pleasing than on "Beloved," while "Epicentre" shows off they can also still do incredible things with an edge. "Genesis" absolutely gives me the shivers every time I hear it open.

As for the review from Castro Valley below who takes exception to the "christian-themed samples" in "Genesis," that deserves close attention. They are recorded from the actual transmission sent by the Apollo 8 capsule on Christmas Eve, 1968, as it carried the first humans to reach the vicinity of the Moon - and they read from the Genesis account in the Bible because NASA decided it would be a good idea to assuage those taxpayers who feared that the kind of progress symbolized iconically by Apollo meant turning our backs on our unscientific religious traditions. So, replaying the samples underscores VNV's lyrics with perfect irony - will we have the courage to move forward and make our future perfect even if it means casting away the cultural relics that hold us back? "With you I stand in hope that god will save us from ourselves" - and yet, "every cry a wasted moment until another day is lost." While we might be nostalgic for a prior day of innocent faith, praying has gained us nothing - but building on our own cleverness, strength and boldness, we can achieve anything, even journeying to the Moon where "the abyss becomes me." So, I'd hardly criticize the album for including christian-themed lyrics - as Ronan himself says, "Are these not words of heresy?" That's my take on it anyway, the whole set of lyrics are the most profound on the album, reminiscent of Steven Weinberg's essay "What about God?" from "Dreams of a Final Theory."

I bought this album on whim after I had heard one of the tracks in a cd store playing it on the stereo system. From the moment I heard his voice and the beats I had to have it. I think Ronan's voice is hauntingly beautiful and very captivating. I own music from all corners of the globe and this I have to say is one of my favorite albums, even my father likes this album and he is a classical guy .From start to finish the album is fantastic.So not only did I go out and buy the other albums from them I now await eagerly for their new album to be released this spring.

For quite some time bands like VnV Nation, Covenant, Apop, Icon of Coil, Neuroticfish and many others have been hailed as the messiahs of a resounding and ever growing synth-pop/EBM scene. But even though all of these bands have release great albums and have provided us with numerous songs that make our bodies move, only one band has been consistent in not only providing great hooks, but also amazingly intellgent lyrics, that band being VnV Nation. With Future Pefect, Ronan and Mark do not stray much from their old "stomping" grounds. This cd is still in the 4X4 dance tradition, but yet it seems to be sooo much more. Ronan shows a progression in his vocals and the lyrics. Gone are the quasai-nationalistic and war themed vocals of the past, they are replaced by mutiple number of themes. The lyrics are extremly uplifting and the melodies are superb. Nothing is more satisfying than a clean and vibrating synth line. All that said, there are a few standout tracks that one most absolutely hear: Structure, Electonaut, Genesis, Beloved and Fearless. Long live futurepop!