Title: The Peaceful Riot
Artist: Empyr
Genre: Rock
Release Date: 26th September 2008
Label: Sony/BMG
Album Review
EMPYR was recruited out of members from 4 bands that are quite famous in the French music scene (Kyo, Watcha, Pleymo and Vegastar) and was initially intended as a side-project but as all involved parties had much fun it soon became the focus of their work. To increase their chances on the international market they decided to sing all songs in English. ‘The Peaceful Riot’ is the result of their combined efforts.
The first vocal lines are sung quite reluctant but the fast played chords reveal that there’s something brooding underneath the surface that soon shows itself in a powerful, guitar dominated chorus. The rather short ‘New Day’ which also was the first single is admittedly powerful but appears a bit tamed to my ears. For the next track this isn’t a bad thing at all as ‘Birth’ is a 100% radio compatible rock/pop ballad. Longing guitars all the way through, some melancholic vocals and a catchy chorus and they have the candidate for the second single. They don’t stay long in those balladry realms and with ‘Tonight’ they deliver pure rock tune that turns out very melodic again and comes up with very good drum parts. ‘Water Lily’ starts a little unusual with frisky and experimental guitar passages until drums and bass kick in at last. With curbed tempo and melancholic voice, it goes on and I guess in a shorter version, the radios would love to play that thing too. In case the gadgetry at the beginning isn’t too much. As it seems the guys always swing between quieter and louder tracks and so the ‘Voice of the Lost Souls’ partly has more of a Nu Metal track than of an actual rock tune. The guitars are ringing and even the vocals are partly screamed out.
The ‘Forbidden Song’ acts calm again; it is rocking but doesn’t boast it to not drown the balladry elements too much. The tempo of choice here is slower again as you might have already expected. ‘The One’ rather relies on the extensive use of acoustic and to a great extend very reluctant guitar extend to create a similar mood, therefore the tempo has significantly increased. Comparatively gentle starts the next track ‘The Fever’ just to evolve and find its apex in a cacophony of yelling guitars other than the following ‘My Empress’ that puts the focus on power right from the start provides some more screaming parts. ‘March On’ is another proxy of the more balladry kind but in that song they play much more with electronic tricks than before. Some drum parts are completely electronic, others just alienated. But with the last song everything switches back to organic again and with soothing melodies as well as razor-sharp riffs they provide a felicitous end.
‘The Peaceful Riot’ is nothing more and nothing less than a good piece of radio compatible rock music, but also nothing you haven’t heard already in one form or another.
Tracklist
01. God Is My Lover – 4:23
02. New Day – 2:55
03. Birth – 4:38
04. Tonight – 3:49
05. Water Lily – 5:23
06. The Voice Of The Lost Souls – 3:25
07. Forbidden Song – 5:03
08. The One – 3:04
09. The Fever – 4:41
10. My Empress – 2:25
11. March On – 4:27
12. Join Us – 6.02
Line-up
Benoit Poher - Lead Vocals
Florian Dubos - Vocals & Guitar
Fred Duquesne - Guitar
Benoit Juliard - Bass
Joselyn Moze - Drums
Website
http://www.empyrmusic.com/ / http://www.myspace.com/empyrmusic
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 6 / 10
Sound: 7 / 10
Extras: -
Total: 6.5 / 10
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