Derniere Volonte
Dernière Volonté * Mon Meilleur Ennemi (cd 2012)
Not unexpected, but the new Dernière is extremely tedious. That is to say, this French act continues to walk the path away from my musical taste. As you probably all know Dernière started as a 'martial ambient' project, but soon made a move towards nice 'military pop', something in between 'martial industrial' and 'synthpop'. This went well for a couple of albums until the 'synthpop' sound started to get the upper hand. The last albums are (to me) very annoying with irritating vocals and boring music. However "Mon Meilleur Ennemi" here and there reminds of the good period, by far the larger part it contains the kind of music that I would run to hit the "ban" button on Last.fm. Of course, there are undoubtely people who do like this direction. If you are one of them, you should definately listen to this newest album.
Links: Dernière Volonté, Hau Ruck!
Dernière Volonté * Immortel (cd 2010)
Of course it was to be expected that Dernière would move away a bit more from the "martial" sound, but "Immortel" is far far worse than I feared. The sound is still recognisably Dernière, but the tempo went down and with the even more cheesy way of singing, the songs can hardly be called "catchy" anymore; "boring" or even "irritating" is a more fitting description. A few songs start like things will get better, but as soon as the singing comes in and the speed drops again, we are back to zero. I am sorry, but there is little positive that I can say about this album.
Dernière Volonté * La Nuit Revient (10″ 2008 hau ruck!)
dance, poppy
This is almost a joke! For more than the price of a cd you get a large single with two tracks (45 rpm). The title track should have been released under the monicker Position Parallele and the other is just a replay of "Tout a Disparu", but halfway it switches to disco mode with a rather boring sound. Of course it is not totally unexpected that Dernière continues its development in sound, but I hoped that with the (not really bad) disco sideproject Position Parallele, Dernière would at least have remained some kind of military pop sound. Rather it seems that both projects mingle. Of course I had to get used to earlier sound development of this French project, but "La Nuit Revient" is a lot worse than I feared on initial listening.
Position Parallèle * s/t (cd 2007 hau ruck!)
dance, poppy, synthpop
Position Parallèle are Geoffry D. and Pierre Pi. The first is of course better known as Dernière Volonté, the second seems to have been involved in the same project in the earlier days. It is not totally unexpected that Geoffry D. took his accessible sound a step further and leave the "military" sound behind. Position Parallèle became a disco cd, or better said: a synthypop cd, because some songs remind of New Order or Soft Cell and I can promise you, the sound is as 'faulty' as the cover! Very recognisable are Geoffry's vocals, but the sound differs a lot from DV as you can imagine. The cd turned out nice. It is not as good as 'that other recent disco cd' "Magic" of November Növelet, but it is a nice listening. A bit of a short one though, 35 minutes.
Oh, a nice joke has been made with the Hau Ruck! logo on the cd.
Links: Position Parallèle, Hau Ruck!.
Dernière Volonté * Toujours (7″ 2007 hau ruck!)
military pop
If I am correct this 7″ was released especially for the Wave Gotik Treffen 2007 performance (where I got it). Two typical but very nice DV tracks with catchy 'military pop'. Nice package and of course very limited.
Dernière Volonté * Devant Le Miroir (cd 2006 hau ruck!)
In my opinion the term "military pop" mostly refers to this French act. Catchy music with a military touch. This new album was eagerly awaited and three years after the last real cd (between those two compilations with old material), finally here it is. The first time I listened to "Devant le Miroir", I was a bit surprised. I expected a poppy sound, maybe even more than on "Les Blessures de l'Ombre", but this new album is on the edge of 'cheesyness' at times. A few plays further I got a bit used to the Christmas bells and 80'ies music lines and the album proves to be another nice one. I don't think that this new cd is better than "Les Blessures…", but it sure aint a bad one either.
Dernière Volonté * Les Blessures de l'Ombre (cd 2003 hau ruck!)
It has been three years since "Le Feu Sacré" appeared on the same label. A very nice soft and slightly militant industrial cd which I still play quite frequently. Since then there have been a few magnificent compilation contributions and a while ago I got to see this Frenchman live on stage in Belgium together with Un Défi d'Honneur (also reviewed). A lot of great new tracks which even prove not to be all on this 60 minute-cd! I suppose that there are also compilations with Dernière that I don't have then…
Anyway, this cd is even more accessible than the debut. Softer songs, more catchy melodies, more singing. I am definately not disappointed! There are a few tracks that aren't too good (and which sound a bit like the very early Der Blutharsch recordings), but most tracks are really superb.
Dernière Volonté/Novy Svet * El Continent!/Mon Mercenaire! (7″ 2002 hau ruck!)
experimental, folk, martial industrial, military pop
I love DV. The "Le Feu Sacré" cd is wonderfull and the compilation contributions that came afterwards are even better. Novy Svet, well, I think they are funny here and there, but I don't like their crazy music too much. But since I missed the first DV 7″ I didn't want to miss this one too. This 7″ is not as much a split cd in the sense of one track per band, but two tracks recorded together. The result is a mix between the music of both bands that sounds pretty nice! Just try to imagine a mix between these two acts and decide whether you want to get this 7″. I like it quite a bit.
Dernière Volonté * Le Feu Sacré (cd 2000 hau ruck!)
atmospheric, dark ambient, martial industrial, orchestral
After a double cassette and a 7" the French Dernière Volonté present their first full-length "The Sacred Fire". This is the first release that I have of this band, so I can't tell you anything about the previous releases.
The cd opens with a wonderfull "Ouverture" (a perfect title) and the next song is a very tranquil industrial track. Actually the whole cd is very tranquil and rather orchestral. Still there is a lot of rhythm which can be either (march) drumming or beats, but overall this reminds me a bit of Cold Meat Industry music, especially because there is also some dark ambient with choral samples.
If you like (dark) ambient and rhythmic tranquil industrial like some CMI cds or Apoptose and Tribe of Circle, you don't have to doubt about getting your hands on this one.
Dernière Volonté * Commemoration (2cd 2004 hau ruck!)
29 July 2004 13 April 2018
A nicely packed double cd with old and unreleased material of this great French act. The first cd starts with an old 7" on Hau Ruck! and this old material is surely not as good as the newer. Further you get other 7"'s, compilation tracks and unreleased material (but not the brilliant Der Blutharsch cover from "Fire Danger Season"). Most of the music comes quite close to 'the Dernière standard', which means: pretty good. Also you get to hear another side of Dernière, a more industrial side. About half of the tracks are the accessible soft melodic tracks with singing, but there is also harscher material to be heard. Two cds for the price of one makes this a good buy.