VNV Nation
Automatic

"One should strive to achieve, not sit in bitter regret": VNV Nation did not choose an easy motto for themselves. In fact, this phrase, which somewhat echoes Tennyson's famous "To strive, to seek, to find and not to yield", holds a difficult purpose, one that not everyone wants to follow and even fewer have managed to follow with skill and inspiration. The careers of Ronan Harris and Mark Jackson themselves are a striking example of how difficult it is to evolve and not remain trapped in their own clichés, but in the end, they succeeded: starting in '95 with a solid album, full of tension, angst, social criticism, and sometimes controversial metaphors, followed by two excellent efforts at the end of the decade like "Praise The Fallen" and especially "Empires," the British duo then went through a period of reflux and lack of inspiration. It's not all that surprising; many futurepop bands, even valuable ones (like Seabound and Rotersand, just to name a couple), have had or are irrevocably destined for a short life, unable to break out of the confines of a "niche" and well-codified genre. In the case of Victory Not Vengeance, the abandonment of the more industrial aspects, more critical and abrasive elements of their music (in accordance with the motto above) was neither easy nor painless. From 2002 until 2007, they couldn't offer more than albums like "Futureperfect," "Matter + Form," and "Judgement," characterized by an uncertain personality, honest craft, and a few too many yawns.

And yet, in the end, class re-emerged, VNV Nation managed to return to high levels and, even more importantly and difficultly, to completely renew themselves. The rebirth began in 2009 with "Of Faith, Power, And Glory", an album of great emotional intensity, a painful alternation of light and shadow perfectly synthesized by the concluding pair of the poignant ballad "From My Hands" and the energetic zest for life expressed in "Where There Is Light". There's still something to be fixed, details to fine-tune, but the path is now laid out, and with "Automatic" in 2011, they finally reach their destination. A brief general overview of sounds and words: without industrial undertones, it remains essentially a hyper-vitaminized synth-pop, to the point that, in my opinion, it becomes a real rock without guitar: there are "riffs", "phrases," and "solos," made by synthesizers but they remain as such, there are arena anthems and slow pieces, there's Ronan Harris' voice which is certainly not that of a typical electronic music singer. And then the lyrics: they are very simple words, even a child could understand them without difficulty, they are straightforward, heartfelt words with a very precise meaning: no nonsense along the lines of "some day you will find me caught beneath the landslide in a champagne supernova in the sky" rather than "look at the stars, how they shine for you and everything you do, yeah they were all yellow" but dreams, desires, emotions, fragilities, and hopes. Universal feelings.

"Automatic" is an album that works magnificently especially "on the road," try it to believe it: it fills the ears, charges with energy and positivity with a muscular, virile sound, also highlighted by Ronan Harris's powerful, warm, and "rusty" timbre, but muscles and virility remain a nice superstructure, never degrading into machismo, never becoming a facade, a caricature, because there is also the courage to expose oneself with an open heart, especially in songs of great emotional impact and enriched by orchestral reminiscences like the midtempo "Gratitude", a prayer that finds its peak in a memorable and inspirational refrain, "My god, look at what we are now, without regret for all the things that we have done, thank you for all the doubts and for all the questioning, for all the loneliness and for all the suffering, for all the emptiness and the scars it left inside, it inspired me, an impetus to fight" or the moving ballad "Nova (Shine A Light On Me)", a grand and poetic love song, or better said faith in love. "Control" demonstrates instead that these new VNV have not lost their claws and the ability to impress with harsher sounds, a martial and gritty rhythm that enhances the work of beatmaker and drummer Mark Jackson, resulting in a rich, articulate and well-integrated context within the album.

"Space And Time" is the most immediate, effective, and glaring summary of rock without rock in "Automatic", a splendid and engaging ride introduced by an effective "riff" that advances boldly and proudly, exploding in a "solo" where the electronic textures travel fast, overlapping and interweaving in a brief but intense ascending current, while "Streamline" is an open-eyed dream, I would say even naive in its total and utopian unfeasibility, yet it is a great dream, the synthphonic sound works perfectly, the measured cadence, the minimal and captivating rhythmic base, and above all the anthemic and flawlessly orchestrated refrain are perfect for what aims to be a "new world symphony for the 21st century". Concluding the dances is "Radio", a more expanded piece, more atmospheric, less loaded and immediate than the rest of the album, a downtempo with a melancholic and relaxing atmosphere that offers a last and significant example of the simple and introspective poetry that characterizes this album, "Have we traded too much, traded innocence for promises of greatness, left to search, left seeking out for a part of us that is no longer there. With all the prowess we possess, exchanged the greatest of ourselves for isolation, gladly we smile and carry on, unaware of the solitude we hide inside".

And it was true glory for Victory Not Vengeance who, riding the wave of enthusiasm, managed to repeat in 2013 with a similar but equally beautiful, intense, and inspired "Transnational". I don't know, at other times perhaps my evaluation would not have gone beyond four stars, but today I see no reason to deny it the maximum, and so be it 5, and honor to these two now middle-aged buccaneers, balancing between Metropolis, roaring engines and a tender heart. If only there were more artists like them...