LE SURVIVANT

1. "Big Bang" (8:38) horrible two-chord rock with horrible sound production and cheezy rock music and lyrics. Sudden and unexpected shift at 6:00 leads to a completely different sound and style that is very nice, very pretty (though still rather simplistic/prog-by-numbers). Saved from a far worse rating by the final two and a half minutes. (7.5/10)

2. "Cumulostratus" (4:17) opens with New Age jazz sound coming from drums, bass, and acoustic guitar (and, soon, piano). Nice piano-guitar duet--almost Pat Metheny like--in that first minute. Very nice melodies. I don't really like this GOBI/SHASTRA-sounding nylon string guitar sound. The piano solo section gives the piano (obviously an electronically duplicated "piano" sound) a live, onstage at a piano bar sound. Again, this is pure and simply a nice tropical piano bar instrumental song. (8/10)

3. "Peur Du Vide" (6:32) again opens with cheezy Neo-prog sounds and construction. The pseudo-metal electric guitar strums are just too cheezy and take the song down every time they enter. The DAFT-PUNK-like treated vocal is not attractive here. Like a beginner's THE BOX. Some nice subtleties within the song. The keyboard and guitar solos show that this band has some talent. If they could only improve their song composition and find a different engineer or producer. (7.5/10)

4. "Les Ravageurs" (3:38) same simple bass and drums from the previous song? Odd almost ICEHOUSE sound and structure with a kind of singing style and sound reminiscent, again, of THE BOX. (7/10)

5. "Mère Nature" (3:47) BRUCE COCKBURN did this song way better in 1977. It was called "Homme brûlant". (7/10)

6. "La Planète Des Fous" (4:28) now let the gimmicks (toy piano) and quirks begin! Over the course of the first minute I find myself waiting for the song to settle into a groove--to get past the introduction section. It never happens...not even at 2:55 when the horribly distorted guitar (are they trying to get DAVID GILMOUR's sound?) power chords seem to indicate a possible change. Cool synth sounds at the halfway point but the drums are painful! (6.5/10)

7. "Le Dernier Arbre" (6:30) piano, bass and nice drumming open this in jazzy chord progression for the first 45 seconds. Then things shift into a standard slow rock ballad pace and four-chord structure. Gentle singing and seering lead guitar work throughout are less than companionable. At 2:20 the music returns for a few seconds to the cool jazzy progression from the opening, but then it all settles back into the slow ballad format. Wish they'd spend more time exploring that jazzy opening style.(7.5/10)

8. "Le Survivant" (7:35) the title song and it sounds like a demo? Is this a joke? Is this to illustrate to us the kind of sound reproduction quality we'll have at our disposal in a post-apocalyptic world? Wow! They saved the worst for last! The tracks don't even match up with one another! I would be embarrassed if this were my released as my finished, "polished" product! At 3:40 the song shifts into a much better section--though this, again, sounds so derivative of THE BOX's sound and style. And then, quel disappointment, it plays out the same to the song's end! (6/10)

In my humble opinion, this is one of the year's singularly over-hyped albums! Unbelievable!

Three star album; not something I would recommend to anyone unless they have a ton of time and want to hear everything that's available throughout the year.

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