Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Dazzling return to Form, April 7, 2007
After the virtually song-less experiment that was Matter + Form, VNV nation have learned from their mistakes and put together a brutally tight piece of music. Not to say that VNV haven't used the good elements on M+F ; far from it. The first song, "The Farthest Star" really picks up where "Arena" and "Perpetual" left off, but with stronger rhythm sections and lyrics. The analogue-synth-pop sound is still there, but with a much fuller sound. Instead of being a limiting factor this time around, the old-school instrumentation fills the sound-spectrum. The next song, "Testament," takes the album in another direction all together. The very live sound is heavy, and the synth lines are as grating as on "Chrome," but melodic, instead of fragmented. The tempo is fast, the bass is strong, and "Testament" becomes the first song on the album to really soar.
The next pair, "Descent" and "Momentum," are very reminiscent of Praise the Fallen, with a dark, driving sound and bass heavy synth lines, but with an upgraded, more real feel. "Nemesis" is a big romper-stomper of the album in "Fearless" style, as is "Carry You," but "Illusion" stands out as the most boundary-pushing of the album. It features a synth-piano sound as heard in "Colours of Rain," but here the emotion comes through in a tear-jerking style. Masterful.
The last song, "As it Fades" is the best outro yet. VNV has always had an epic sound, but "As it Fades" sounds like The Lord of the Rings in is sheer mournful beauty. A perfect closing.
Besides the into and closing tracks, every song on Judgement [sic] features lyrics and motion, and every song is really a SONG. There is no filler whatsoever on Judgement, like on Empires before it, but at the same time, the new post-futurepop VNV sound rules, producing a unique and heartfelt effort by the boys.
Bravo, I say! Trance, Synth-Pop, and EBM fans as usual will love the album, but so, perhaps, will the indie rock group, and hey, maybe a little radio play? "Testament" and "Farthest Star" really could make it.
Easily the best album since Empires.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Different that all previous VnV, May 16, 2007
It is not what i expected, but i grew to love it. It's hard for me to pin down... but i think that its because even though the lyrics are a bit darker, the instrumentals are a bit "poppier" I think thats what initially put me off.
I picked up the cd the week before seeing vnv live. I will be honest, my initial thought was oh no, what have they done? However its one of those rare cd's that the more i listen to it the more i love it. I also think seeing it performed live that pushed me over the edge.
Ronan was fantastic at the show we went to and really made the songs work. If you get the chance to see them live its worth every penny and more.
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7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Judgement Day Is Not Coming Soon Enough, April 10, 2007
I had the fortunate opportunity to see this band live for the Judgement tour and got the album a week early. After fully digesting it, I must say it is a FANTASTIC record. While I still think Futureperfect is the best VNV Nation album, Judgement does surpass Matter + Form, mainly because there is more vocal tracks, which makes the songs more enjoyable. I'm sure all of VNV Nation's songs would be a lil' less interesting without Ronan's vocals. So we get 8 varied tracks sandwiched in between two orchestral opening and closing pieces. I guess my only complaint is that some of the synth lines sound way too similar to past songs, but the continuous improvement in both lyrics and production gives these songs an epic feel. Judgement is obviously a darker album being that the theme is Judgement Day, the end of mankind. Lyrically it contains many of VNV's most popular themes, but on tracks like Nemesis and Descent we see Ronan really tapping that dark visceral vein of his. The vocals on Descent are spoken, not sung, and believe me when I say Ronan sounds seriously grim on that track! A very haunting song. The two light-hearted obvious singles are The Farthest Star and Carry You. Those are great upbeat pop songs. Testament and Nemesis are the "heavier" songs with ultra-fast beats and familiar throbbing bass and synth lines(Praise The Fallen anyone?), and contain lyrics that practically cry for the world's demise. Illusion is the ballad of the album. A quiet cascading piece with great singing. As far as the intro/outro pieces go, I'd say the opener is very Neo-Classical in nature(As is a lot of VNV Nation's instrumentals), while the closing piece is angelic with synth-choir effects. For the first time in a long time the instrumentals work to great effect on this album creating a solid feel and direction. Also a plus is Ronan's vocals seem more raw and unpolished, especial on The Farthest Star. I can almost feel his voice reverberating in my head. Bottom-line is that if you consider yourself a VNV Nation fan at all, then you must get this album because without it you'll be missing some great electronic music. Not the best, but fresh and crisp in sound and new avenues were definitely traveled to create this fine album. Ronan Harris did a great job. Also, see the band on this tour if you can because they played almost the entire Judgement album when I saw them last week. Exciting stuff.
Buy this record.
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