ARDEUR

First album proper (read: released as a vinyl and marketed properly) from Eskaton, Ardeur (fervour) takes from where 4 Vision had left things. The group has lost guitarist Blésing and keyboardist Guillaume as members, and failed to replace them, which actually limits the group's capacities in terms of variety, even if violinist Lemercier comes in on two tracks. As opposed to the debut album, the lion's share of the songs is written by Marc Rozenberg, leaving just two songs to bassist Bernardi. But counting the two bonus Bernardi tracks from a previous EP, the balance evens out a bit more.

What we have here is a Magma-derivate and unfortunately Ardeur, unlike 4 Vision or Fiction later, it fails to build its own personality, especially in the vocals dept, where you'd swear Stella and the gang finally had time to take up French to sing on this album. Music-wise Ardeur is closest to Udu Wudu with a huge bass sound, and the usual Zeuhl traits without any surprise, if you'll except the unusual intro of Pierre Et L'Ange and some bits of the otherwise too-long Dagon. Lemercier does bring in a much-needed breath of fresh air with his violin in Un Certain Passage, but this is the only noticeable contribution of his. Apparently the group wasn't happy with their eponymous track on 4V and decided to give it another shot. Can't tell you which is better, though!

Included here are two bonus tracks from a two-tracks EP Musique Post-Atomique that was released prior to Ardeur and recorded with the full 4 Vision line-up. Chant De La Terre (Song Of The Earth) is a funky version of Zeuhl, stylistically halfway between their debut album and this one. If starts on windy sounds then flies on a war march at speed of light, with entertaining patterns with both Rozenberg brothers soaring with their respective organ and electric piano and wordless scats from the two singing graces Amara and Paule.

This might come a bit as a surprise, but I think Ardeur is Eskaton's weaker album, preferring Fiction's unconventional and innovative Zeuhl or the debut album. What strikes most with Ardeur, is that the group makes no effort at all to distance themselves from the Kobaian galaxy, except in the two bonus tracks.

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