This album is nothing short of absolutely brilliant. Pseudo-classical ambient progressive electro-rock. Mozart meets Jean-Michel Jarre meets a guitar. Genius.
The music and artwork are both hauntingly beautiful, and I strongly encourage all listeners to snag the full lossless artwork from http://silence.culturelibre.net/musique/index.htm. The sound quality is absolutely flawless, and I am unfortunate in that my ears are not at all tolerant of bad production.
"Cellule" has to be one of the most varied instrumental tracks I have heard in quite a while. A reedy sawtooth, electronic drums and an industrial metallic clang set the theme for most of the song, but it ends in a firestorm of electric guitars accompanied by a more acoustic sounding drumkit.
"Effacé" is the most electronic sounding track. It features a pulsating bass accompanied by a loud throbbing bass drum and clattering electronics which to the initiated I can only describe as "demo-style". Nevertheless, it fits perfectly with the rest of the album and has a distinctly un-electronic sound even as it borrows memes from dark electronic music. It thrives admirably on a contrast of tempo between the slow and mournful and the rapid and deadly. Later, a guitar lead is introduced which rounds of the track admirably.
"Larmes", in contrast, is the most orchestral track. It begins with a piano accompanied accompanied by a sampled chorus, but electronics are swiftly introduced in the form of a boxy, clattering drumkit which somehow succeeds in complementing the more traditional feel of everything else in the track. It is impossible to decide whether an instrument that appears later and sets the theme for most of the track should be described as a pad or a violin, since it seems to share the best features of both.
Finally, "Follow Me" rounds off the album with breakbeat drums, a dreamy bell-like lead and a gritty sawtooth bass. The final track is an ambient rounding-off rather than a crescendo finale, but is more than satisfactory and leaves the listener with the distinct desire to hear the entire album again.
My only complaint is that "Stop!" sounds a bit like Cradle of Filth when they are trying to be ambient (c.f. "Venus in Fear"), and while there is nothing particularly wrong with it I'm not convinced it fits thematically with the rest of the piece.
Nonetheless, two thumbs up (way up). The fact that it is free for any and all re-use only serves to raise my opinion of it to new heights.
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