VNV Nation
Empires

THE REVIEW

For those who have had the fortune of listening to Empires, this review might be redundant: just one listen is enough to grasp the greatness and impact of this work. For those who have yet to savor it, I hope to give an idea, if possible, of what this platter represents.
But let's proceed in order, the name of the band: VNV, which stands for Victory Not Vengeance, says a lot about the project of this combo, explicitly aiming to unite past and present: the memory and music of past civilizations with the most modern electronic music, this music is precisely EBM, or if we prefer the purest synthpop, not contaminated by the brutality of Suicide Commando, or the commerciality of Apoptygma Berzerk, but full of arpeggios and orchestrations while still being compelling on the dancefloor, creating a genre of its own, the FuturePop.

This album is the third work of the Anglo-Irish duo, dated 1999, and called to reaffirm what they had accomplished in previous releases. The reaffirmation comes in the form of 8 tracks (plus intro and outro) of decently danceable electronics, but despite this, it's rich in emotions.
It starts with "Kingdom" and "Rubicon", two fairly fast songs where the keyboards take the lead, contrasted by the vocals, sweet and dreamy, continuing with "Saviour", an instrumental piece that turns out to be the most lively of the platter.
The subsequent "Fragments" leaves aside the more purely wave-like diversions and the keyboards, for a song almost entirely drum-machine and vocals, the synth parts are minimal, and the frantic beat rhythm sets the tone for lyrics speaking of great future works. "Distant", a slow electronic string-driven piece, is the most unusual track of the album, contrasted by the final trio of fast and danceable tracks.

Empires is one of the fundamental albums of synthpop and alternative electronic music in general, and despite this, it is the ultimate expression of a highly personal and original music that sees many imitators.