Idolator

vnv's been around since the mid 90s. this will be their fifth record and fourth on metropolis records. they've been utilising the same formula since their big underground record, "empires", which is reheated trance for mall goth kids.

afi are fans as they let vnv do a remix for them on a recent single.

it is nice to see a dark electronic act getting some shine in the heat of the valley at coachella though.

.....Not bad at all! It's not Tracy Lord/Juno Reactor's "Control," but few things are that good. I like that it's not a busy as many "industrial" things are. The balance is good, too, although I'd have prefered a little less resonance on that upper-range buzzy synth. It's a nice blend of analog and digital sounds.

.....Great post!

.....I should add that I listened to this with a TV window open, too, and the track was blurred together with the sound of the TV weatherman. (We have a tornado on the ground in my county right now, fortunately 10 miles or so to the north...) The track definitely adds a surreal element to the newscast!

Just now discovering VNV Nation? You must not be spending enough time in the goth-industrial clubs and/or Hot Topic. Which, coming from someone who once did, is not necessarily a bad thing.

Good music, though. Like Steven, I enjoy seeing them on the Coachella lineup.

i'm not going to lie, i've loved VNV Nation since i was a little goth 17 year old smoking clove cigarettes because they matched my outfit. that said, they put on a pretty amazing live show and their previous albums are amazing, especially Empires. whether it was reheated or not, i dug it.

oh and p.s. at the live show, they pranced around in little black shorts with white socks and black shoes. it was like watching two goth members of AC/DC. unreal.

Idolators, have I mentioned how much I love you?

Judgement is VNV's fifth album. And it's fantastic... although nothing will ever compare to their groundbreaking second CD, Empires. They basically do electro concept albums, and what's so great about Judgement is that it has a clear beginning, middle and end. It explores themes of human potential, global politics and ultimately our own misdoing.

I also think of Judgement as a strong companion piece to the new NIN record. Besides covering similar ground, they each represent the two vastly different directions that mid-90s industrial has taken, with NIN taking the harsh guitar-driven route and VNV integrating cues from trance.

I've done my fanboy duty for the day. PS: My favorite track on Judgement is the dancefloor stomper "Nemesis."

as far as the humanistic aspects, that's pretty much par for the course on all their records going back to "advance and follow". personally, i feel like i've outgrown them. they're not a bad band but you almost get the feeling where you know what you're going to get. a club banging lead-off single and a record of club-bangers and moddy instrumental pieces.

to be honest, apoptygma berzerk is a better live band and i'm surprised they haven't been asked to play coachella.

VNV came out after my goth days, when I finally got over myself, and i Love listening to them as a perfect guilty pleasure. "Empires" is a phenomenal album. Makes me almost want to powder the face and lace up the boots again...

Recycle tired, decade-old cookie cutter trance beats, cut out any originality, swap the bass and snare samples out with punchier ones, and moan over the top of the whole thing.

Great idea, from a record label's perspective: before this graver garbage came out they couldn't sell rave cds to goth kids. Now they don't even have to count on the "next big thing" anymore - just take the garbage the clubbers are done with, slap some eyeliner on it, and ship it right back out the front door.

VNV Nation sound like "dubnobasswithmyheadman"-era Underworld, except with Ween's "The Pod"-era Scotch-Guard habit.... except a lot more predictable.

Christ. VNV Nation even makes Darude's "Sandstorm" sound new and novel.

Oh god, the pain of it all. I dated a horribly depressed goth girl last year and she played VNV Nation constantly. When I hear this all I can see is black leather, red plaid and bad makeup.

I admit to being pleasantly surprised by seeing VNV Nation here. Apoptygma Berzerk next please.

Well hello there, Kinetiq. Your witty choice of words to describe the musical style of this band had me mistaking you as a reviewer on Pitchfork. If you're not already a reviewer there, perhaps you should look into it--you'd fit in well. Bitching about the lack of originality in a musical style using flowery descriptions is quickly becoming the internet's #1 pastime.

I can't logically give you an unbiased response about this, but I'll say my piece. You've cited no evidence that gives weight to your opinion, which makes me wonder what you were intended on getting out of your comment. Either you're looking to pick a fight with someone (currently occupying the #1 spot in the pastime list) with someone else who will argue their point just as blindly, or you're looking to propel yourself to internet stardom by writing witticisms about music on some internet blog (once again, I urge you to sign up with Pitchfork).

If you're going to actually make a legitimate argument questioning VNV Nation's lack of musical ingenuity, at least give some examples. For example, one could have easily picked that the trancelike music going on in Savior's melody still doesn't help the fact that it sounds too overlooped with little variation. Sure, trance lovers might still like it (and I'm a trance addict), but at least it gave the argument some kind of shot that like-minded people could latch onto legitimately.

For a much better example, take a look at the Sim Ronan parody phenomenon that happened a while back:

http://poitot.us/afraidofswordsvideo.swf

kanjs, i'm the president of your fan club. BURNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!

since vnv is being featured.. can we get a shout-out for bands like mesh, de/vision, and wolfsheim? get on that, brian! :)

Ahhh VNV.

Love 'em or hate 'em, in the goth/industrial-microcosm that those kids like to call a "scene" few bands inspire more fervor one way or the other.

The lovers hang on every word of the 3-note therapy poetry that Ronan Harris sings, calling it deep and meaningful.

The haters call it bad trance and consider them sellouts (although on the grand scale of things, selling less than a hundred thousand copies doesn't qualify one to be a sellout, really).

I find it a little formulaic after a few albums, personally. But I gotta give 'em credit - they've found something that works for them, turned many of their limitations into strengths, and have managed to put together quite a cult following. They've taken the transhumanist and militaristic imagery that is the genre's stock and trade and packaged it into something that's more immediately accessible and less overtly controversial than the industrial genres normally pump out.

They just profound and edgy enough to grab hold of disaffected suburbanites, but not scary enough to drive said suburbanites away. It's a tightrope few other industrial/electronic/synthpop bands have ever managed to sucessfully walk.

Of course, they've also inspired a few too many irritating clone bands, too.

@nulldevice: I have to agree on it being a bit formulaic after a while, and that it does work out for them. I remember once reading a Rob Zombie interview (of all people) where he was asked why he never changed his musical style much. He said, "Because I'm a marketing genius," and went on to list the Smashing Pumpkins as an example of a band who lost a lot of people when it made the albume Adore. Even though the lyrics might not have changed much, production and sound definitely seemed to fall on several now-deaf ears (though I personally liked it). But I think Rob was right about the fact that a change in style can render consequences with a fickle crowd.

Though the lyrics can become somewhat formulaic, VNV Nation does seem to have changed its musical style quite a bit between Advance & Follow and Judgement. A&F and Praise the Fallen had a lot of tracks that radiated a lot of the Nitzer Ebb/Skinny Puppy style of industrial, but you could see the twinkle here and there of the style that was to evolve from those earlier albums into what it is now. Plus the vocal range of Ronan Harris has increased dramatically from what it once was.

The lyrics I don't think have changed much, but at least not every song is the same. A lot of it is still pretty epic, but not as epic as say Dragonforce. But I honestly think one of the biggest things they have going for them is they can blend some pretty uplifting stuff, which I never thought would go down very well in the EBM community. They definitely found themselves a niche crowd from all over, and the artists seem to be enjoying what they're doing. They seem to be doing alright for themselves despite the fact that people either love 'em or hate 'em.

VNV has this uncanny talent for retreading whatever happens to be hot'n'happenin' with the hot topic crowd, and then their strident little army of fans tells the entire world they did it better than anyone ever.

the band just picks really simple, safe hooks really well. their "chrome" from "matter + form" has exactly the same structure as "wild wild west" from escape club. you can actually mash the two tracks together perfectly.

It is true that they have changed a lot between Advance and Judgement...but a lot less between, say, Futureperfect and Judgement. And you can set the lyrics to "Solitary" to pretty much any one of their tracks. Admittedly, I think that's because Ronan has a fairly limited vocal range, so rather than try and stretch it and risk soudning terrible, he just goes with what works.

By all accounts Ronan and Mark are nice guys, and aside from coining the awful term "futurepop" I can't fault them for their success. To think that a pudgy irish frontman and an enromously tall, lanky drummer can pack clubs with songs about how they got beat up a lot in high school...well, that's every geekboy's dream, isn't it? One would imagine, although I cast no criminal aspersions, that Ronan must be just swimming in underage goth girls.

Their strident army of fans, though, are often quite annoying. Most of the loud ones seem unwilling to acknowledge that, like every other artist on the planet, VNV Nation also has musical roots and did not just pull "PTF2012" fully-formed from Ronan's brain.

(also, the track suits? Hilarious!)

No, no; I'm not speaking my peace to impress anyone nor to pick a fight. I was just incredulous that idolator was singing the praises of VNV Nation; it seems so out of place for a blog this snobby to mention something so bland.

So, anyone heard the EBM equivalent of speed garage? It's called WareHaus. It's pretty 'core.

Give it a few years, it'll catch on.

Now that you are looking into VNV Nation, may I point out Front 242 and Snog?

@nulldevice:
There is a lot less between Futureperfect and Judgement. You can still hear some remnants of the Junatik synth in albums after FP, which really ties them all together soundwish. Also, if I can swim in a sea of goth girls, I'd be happy as long as it was just sex. Meaning no talking or having to read poetry.

@KinetiQ: Ah, then forgive me for any speculative bashings. I was linked to this article so I have no idea what Idolator (but perusing it more and more makes me dislike it more and more). Perhaps the reason Idolator mentioned it is because they want to be the first non-industrial website to try to pass it along as cool (giving them the first-mover advantage).