Published by Alessandro Violante on April 9, 2016
What should we expect from an album of Dernière Volonté in 2016? Geoffroy Delacroix, with Prie Pour Moi, gives us the umpteenth tile of the evolution of his project: from 1998’s Obéir Et Mourir until today, the french artist always succeeded in keeping the interest alive towards his personal martial and neoclassical register. Since the turn made in 2003 with Les Blessures De L’ombre and, above all, with its follower Devant Le Miroir released in 2006, DV has progressively absorbed minimal synth elements, while never losing a certain neofolk attitude and pathos that have always characterized his albums.
It seems that Geoffroy D has cherished from his experience with Pierre Pi in the the minimal synth duo Position Parallèle, one of the most interesting contemporary acts that have chosen a classic cold wave approach. Prier Pour Moi contains different songs in which this approach goes hand in hand with a neofolk attitude opened to synth contaminations: let’s be clear about it, here the existential vision persists, filled with a European “extremist romanticism”, that actually has always characterized the artistic path of DV… also with this last album (initially announced as the end of the project), Dernière Volonté remains spiritually close to Death In June and to the early Der Blutharsch‘s works, while having a personal and recognizable approach that differentiates him from several imitators of the genre. Vocals, arrangements and melodies here re-elaborate what has been made since Devant Le Miroir (listen to the very good Je Serai Toujours). Exemplifying of the quality of the album is Les Rêves Dedorian, that follows the introduction of Ténèbres, characterized by mid tempo drums, reverberations and emphatic keyboards, which is accompanied by a resolved and martial singing style that in the following Sans Fin has its perfect dreary and resigned counterbalance.
His previous albums Immortel and Mon Meillieur Ennemi have opened to synth pop moments in which the romantic and martial tension of Devant Le Miroir tempered itself in catchy moments, while here, at least partially, there’s a comeback to a balance between martial and epic moments and romantic melodies upon which black and white movie frames flow, obscure omens of a world now perished, between Pierre Drieu La Rochelle and Guillaume Apollinaire.
Prie Pour Moi, the title track, is a composition of moving melancholy and beauty, similar to a church organ that celebrates a funereal ceremony for the modern world while one walks among graves and ruins. The whole album seems to be focused around a spiritual research aimed at moving out of the existential obscurity that surround us.
Surely there are also forays of an inspired synth wave with songs as A Bout Portant and Je N’avais Pas Compris, or straight veers towards dark synth pop in Petit Soldat and Après Nous (with its female choruses in the end of the song) that also echoes a certain French songwriting tradition that sometimes can be recognized (Le Premier Souffle) as a product of the subterranean influence of Geoffroy D.’s work.
Prie Pour Moi doesn’t amaze nor innovate what was previously made by the French musician, but is a very successful (even compared to Immortel and Mon Meillieur Ennemi) and well balanced album, which refines the unmistakable sound of Dernière Volonté, donating us an inspired and focused epsiode with melodic and engaging, never too common, songs. We’re in front of the umpteenth release that won’t disappoint the fans of the project that have appreciated its synth wave turn, here finally fully matured and balanced with his obscure romanticism.
Label: Hau Ruck!
Rating: 7.8