FAUST

Like their "Nosferatu" album this is a film score they did for a silent movie. In this case the movie "Faust" was released in 1926 and like "Nosferatu" this too was directed by F.W. Murnau. As per usual Gerard Hourette and Thierry Zaboitzeff share in composing these tracks right down the middle.We have the pleasure of having Daniel Denis (UNIVERS ZERO) on drums, keys and samples.Oh and happy "Logan Day" everybody. See my review for Jean Claude Vannier's debut for an explanation. This particular album sure sounds like an ART ZOYD album and I found myself saying after almost every track "cool song" and the words "that's insane" came up a lot too(haha).

"Down" has this atmosphere that fills the air early on then experimental sounds arrive before 2 1/2 minutes but they leave just as quickly as they appeared. "Gates Of Darkness" has these loud percussion sounds with horn-like sounds as the vocals join in.Yes vocals ! A change 2 1/2 minutes in then these rough sounding spoken words come in after 3 minutes. A calm after 4 minutes then it becomes intense. Great track !

"Flask" opens with atmosphere as sounds pulse and hover.The loud outbursts late are alarming. "Plague" has these insane drums that pound relentlessly throughout. "Faust" is appealing to me because of those spacey synth-like sounds. "Marais" opens with thunder and rain followed by nature sounds.This is unreal, it sounds so good. "Parole" has these sounds that echo as the atmosphere looms like the devil himself is standing near. "Pact" has these sounds that slowly pulse in and out as other sounds come and go.

"Bruissement" is experimental with spacey sounds and church bells. Birds are chirping to end it. "Essaim" has so much going on and what sounds like a bass horn of some sort. "Irruption" is a short piece that is an eruption of loud sounds. "Gates Of Darkness 2" is cool sounding but quite strange too. "Pavan" opens with thunder and rain then the percussion and atmosphere follow.Loud sounds come and go 1 1/2 minutes in then it builds. "Dies Irae" has some spacey atmosphere then the percussion comes in around 1 1/2 minutes as the soundscape slowly disintegrates.Vocal sounds too in this one.

"Procession" is pleasant at first but it builds to a wall of sound. "Easter" has these vocal expressions and it's very experimental too. "Marthe" is mostly percussion and a classical vibe. "Games" is again percussion but with an eerie background this time. "Intrigues" is dark then it kicks in before 2 minutes. It turns dark again before 3 1/2 minutes.This is actually scary. "Accelerando" has these powerful outbursts with loud bells.The outbursts speed up and take over. It settles back before 7 minutes and a calm follows with spoken words before the loud outbursts return and speed up again.Here we go !

Easily 4 stars. Listen to this with headphones at night for full effect.

Back in 1926, a famous director, F. W. Murnau, made a German film called "Faust". This was a silent movie and obviously had no soundtrack. After viewing the film, Art Zoyd decided to make a soundtrack full of electronic music to correspond with the film. These are the tracks from that soundtrack. After the completion of the soundtrack, the film was shown a few times to the public with this music playing. I haven't seen the original or the one with the soundtrack, but if you have listened to this album and wondered how this music came to be, now you know. I have read the plot line for the movie and it seems to be quite a complicated plot for a silent movie, but apparently, it is a highly rated movie. Basically, it deals with a demon making a bet with an angel that he can influence a just man to be evil. The just man is Faust. This is a rather dark movie and I don't want to give away the ending, but even when all seems lost, good eventually triumphs even over death.

The music here is quite dark and full of mostly sinister sounds and moods. The music is all electronic except for the addition of cello and some vocals, most of which have been electronically manipulated. There is a lot of percussive sounds also mostly created by keyboards. The music is interesting enough and very engaging when listened to through headphones in a dark room. The pieces are mostly short except for three of them, the finale being over 11 minutes in length. But the tracks pretty much run into each other and can almost be taken as one continuous suite. The music is also completely avant garde music almost that can flow from ambient to noisy in a moments notice. There are a few places where there is a standard rhythm, and overall, the music is not inaccessible, but it is still far from any popular sounding music either. There is no real formulaic pattern to the music either. Yet it remains a very interesting listen and seldom gets boring.

This is highly recommended to anyone interested in film music, avant-prog or Rock in Opposition music or even electronic music. It is similar to Univers Zero and even some of Ulver's more eclectic music. The only thing that bothers me is that I enjoyed Art Zoyd's natural music in their earlier albums more, but this is still well done. I think the music loses something when it's not seen with the movie that inspired it and I wouldn't mind hearing it in context with the movie. Anyway, as an album standing on it's own, I can still consider it a 4 star recording, but you do have to be in the right mood for it. But when you are, it is an excellent example of avant-prog.