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Rating: Before releasing this album, which came out in 2007, the Angel Self Destruct, a French band composed of "three violet shadows", as you can read on their website, had already published the self-produced EP "The Basement" in 2001 and, in 2004, the album "Luna Reincarnativh".
"Rex Mundi" is the second album of this band from across the Alps, unfortunately not well-known on Italian soil. In fact, getting hold of the record I am about to review was not easy: two years ago I had to purchase it from a French website because no one here had it or had ever heard of this group. Just now, as I navigate their website, I notice that in 2009 Angel Self Destruct released a new album, "The Carrion And The Light", also with Nonpareil, the same record label that published "Rex Mundi" and "Luna Reincarnativh". With sincere regret, I must note that, unfortunately, in our area this new release was not at all advertised, nor reviewed by anyone. I believe it is a real shame because, among the many poor productions that have recently come our way, Angel Self Destruct are among the few who truly deserve recognition and esteem.
Speaking specifically of "Rex Mundi", the sound is primarily coldwave and goth rock, enriched by continuous references to trip-hop, electronics, as well as ambient. The singer's solo voice echoes throughout all 11 tracks of this work. The musical arrangements, bases, and samples are all very refined, original, and valuable. The album opens with "Der Kommissar", whose fresh and creative musical structure perfectly ties to the voice, fragmented in the refrain over multiple vocal lines. It continues with the notes of the seductive "The Man Who Strangled A Tree", with a clear electro cadence. "Goth Girls Can't Fly" is a dark piece, darker than both the previous and the subsequent tracks. Notable in this song are the noise inserts, which slightly alter the rhythm. The repetitive and obsessive electronic base of "Nihil" creates the adequate substrate on which to develop the singing and other vocal distortions that embody the piece. "Ghost Satellite" is wonderful and is the song most affected by the brilliant trip-hop influences of the album, masterfully combined with the goth mood that characterizes the whole record. "Don't Let Them Get You Alive" also immediately captures the listener's attention: I believe the female voice gives its very best here. "Ritual" begins with a drum rhythm featuring the same obsessive repetitiveness as the bases of "Nihil", then becomes increasingly enriched with sounds that promote the entry of the singing. The eighth track, "A Canticle For Leibowitz", stands out for its compelling playful brightness.
As we approach the conclusion of this highly successful second disc from the beloved French Angel Self Destruct, we encounter the excellent, stunning, beautiful (and a few more adjectives ending in ‘-most’) "Mental Hygiene" and "Typhoid Mary": in the first, exquisitely, ambient references float around, while in "Typhoid Mary" the foundations and the multitude of electronic inserts are breathtaking, accompanied, towards the end, by bass loops and high pitches. Everything wraps up excellently with the title track "Rex Mundi": the rhythm is pressing and distinctly '80s. I believe this song would fascinate even those who aren't specifically goth. Having reached the end of this brief review, it's certainly not easy to choose, among all the tracks of this album, which is the most captivating: each of them is the perfect nuance that contributes, through its own regalness, to articulate the beauty of the soundscape named "Rex Mundi".
Tracks:
1 Der Kommissar
2 The Man Who Strangled A Tree
3 Goth Girls Can't Fly
4 Nihil
5 Ghost Satellite
6 Don't Let Them Get You Alive
7 Ritual
8 A Canticle For Leibowitz
9 Mental Hygiene
10 Typhoid Mary
11 Rex Mundi
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