Dernière Volonté

One of the best Martial Industrial ever done, if not the best, or at least the more digerible. Never indigested with maniac bombast but with enough viril content to make your heart pound hard, a lyrical component that sides with existentialism or even decadentism and the cold tone from minimal wave makes it prosaic and modern summing an aristocratic, elegant, discreet piece of music.

Be for granted that Geoffroy D was born catholic and in his youth drank enough post punk and cold wave to revolute it all, which in return are the foundations for the creation of Dernière Volonté, Organ music and cold wave painted with martialism. In his first days the band was more into the militar tonalities and Great War reminiscences associated with early Martial Industrial, but with "Les Blessures De L'Ombre" he found his style, and it has managed to bring several very good to decent albums ever since. Martial pop, some call it, i think it is well asserted.

The music has been characterised by minimalism, very conservative in the use of instrumentalization, somehow very laconic in result. There are two ever present elemments in his music. For once, militar drum beat, simple bass pounding beat as primal force of rhythm, second to that comes the organ. Vigour and orthodox sacrality. Around those two elements come minimal cold synths and the warm voice from Geoffrey D contrasting each other, often lyrical and solemn but with a feeling of neglected deference and perhaps apathy.

At his best the band has managed to create fabulous tracks that fill the gaps and lack of center from the albums, balancing them and making them memorable, take for example "Les Blessures De L'Ombre", Powerful tracks that distill a patent stoicism and melancholic yearning that becomes addictive to the listener.

Subsequent albums try to go back to the basics, less martialism more synth pop, for instance "Immortel", at least for me result the more boring, his synth pop intentions without the martial component becomes almost a cold abstraction and souless which in the end sums up a boring thing. "Mon Meilleur enemi" solidifies more the concept of martial pop and distants from the more powerful pounding from mid period albums, yet the general musical structure remains more or less the same, beat, organ, minimal synth, voice.
Latest album "Prie pour moi" is a middle way between "Immortel" and "Mon meilleur enemi". Not that electro as the first but sustaining the cold wave qualities from it, yet bringing the more "dark accent" from the second. In that sense we see a band or an author that is going back to the basics, returning to his roots, synth pop, minimal wave, a more timid beat usage, preserving the conservative appeal from its core, distilling the apathetic melancholy in his lyrical component.

A good band, evolving by devolving. I still appreciate it.