PRESENT

Fans of those aforementioned bands should check these guys out.

It would be very interesting to hear LE POISON if there was some horns floating over the music a la Univers Zero. But I'm not going to try to sour grapes for much longer. It's quite good RIO music, but a bit redundant if you've heard the debut.

Whatever dark, macabre horrorifics that UZ employed (speaking from their debut, they got more electric later on), Present sound much less acoustic. The main strengths of the band are the pianos, the drums (Daniel Denis; no surprises there) and just the intensity of the music. Both big epics have that last quality in spades; if you're a fan of avant-prog, that hair-tickling feeling of the sharpness of the music will rub off on you in the best way. That's how best to really describe why Present and TRISKAIDEKAPHOBIE work within the avant-prog scene. It's well worth putting an ear to if you can find it.

In addition to this, some of the tweaks to the present sound they present just don't seem to work. Whilst the quasi-operatic singing on Le Poison Qui Rend Fou was compelling, the zany singing of the Trigaux family and Daniel Denis this time around just doesn't work for me. On the whole, Certitudes kept the Present name alive but doesn't really add anything to the legend.

I am a fan of the first three Present albums. Material they have played live & recorded for this album.

Present's three first albums was very gloomy and horror movies influenced. Some of their music reminds me a lot about what the zeuhl band Shub Niggurath did.

Present live is a lot more minimalistic than they are in the studio. Where Promenade au Fond d'un Canal is big in studio, it has lost something in the translation to the scene. Mostly in intensity and gloom. The dissonant guitars is not that much dissonant live. Also sound wise, something is missing here.

Despite of the translation errors from studio to a live setting; this live album is still a very good live album. It very much gives a good picture of what Present was back in the mid 1990s. But I prefer their studio albums instead of this live album, I have to admit.

Still.......

3.5 stars

After an eight year gap from their last 'burst' of activity the Belgian RIO royalty deliver the goods again.

The Good: I've always enjoyed Present's albums from the 1980s but found their overall effect to be diluted by weak production. In contrast this album provides all the brooding tension of their earlier works, but in a high fidelity package. I also love the variation found on this release, from the darkly atmospheric Vertiges, to the more upbeat, almost groovy A Last Drop.

The Bad: I prefer the opening two tracks to the Univers Zero cover, Jack the Ripper, although this is marginal and may just be because they're fresher.

The Verdict: Turn off the lights and turn up the volume.

The opening side offers two shorter tracks, with the opening Love Scorn being the most accessible of the three, but the album in general is not quite as sinister as the previous 80's works of Trigaux sr. The first part of Alone (lasting 14-mins+) is a slow crescendo climbing from guitar arpeggios to searing electric guitar solos. The flipside holds the almost-25 mins second part of Alone, featuring some of the craziest vocals of Present's studio discography, plus some awesome guitars ranging from the quiet almost bucolic (everything being relative with Present) to the furious and rabid histrionics of the father-son team and a short wink to a Beatles tune, right before the album's final notes.

COD Performance is a bit of a side-bracket in Present's discography, being closer to the 80's stuff than the newer series of albums, but it's no less worthy of the RIO/avant fan than it would be for guitar absolutists.

Up to this album, this band from Belgium released some fine albums with introvert darkened RIO music. But a change occurs on this album though. Present opens up and becomes a more light hearted, playful band. Gone is the grave-yearning suicidal approach and in comes funk, jazz, tango and post rock too. It is still pretty obvious this is a Present album and that is pleasing for their (including myself) core fans. Present still sounds like a cross breed between RIO and zeuhl. But with the additions of new influences. But Certitude still has a dark undertone.

One of the reasons I really liked their first albums was the stylistic doom laden sound. The suicidal landscape where nothing grows and only the ravens rules the roost. That has mostly gone on Certitude and Present loose some of their charm and attraction to me. But the music here is still very good. But this album is an development I do not find that spellbinding attractive. Neither the songs or the sound is that great so for me; this album is a step backwards for Present.

3 stars