LE SILENCE DES RUINES: Prophéties D’Un Misanthrope
Release year: 2022
Label: Steinklang Industries
Having released their self-titled debut EP already 12 years ago, French Le Silence Des Ruines aren’t exactly a new name in the biz. However, their physical discography is exceedingly short: the aforementioned EP, and now this CD. The releases in between have never been published in physical format.
Luckily, the good people at Steinklang Industries realized what a grievance this state of things was, and put out a CD version of Prophéties D’Un Misanthrope. The album was originally self-released by the band earlier in the year – you guessed it, digitally.
In broad strokes, placing Le Silence Des Ruines on the musical map is quite easy. Why, obviously, somewhere there in the vast landscape of post-industrial, neoclassical, neofolk, martial music. But try to pinpoint a more exact descriptor for this music, and you’ll find yourself having a hard time at it.
Prophéties D’Un Misanthrope mixes together the slow, brooding nature of dark ambient with the majesty of orchestral martial industrial into a mix that is not fully either. There are moments of neoclassical bombast interlaced with understated passages of piano and long, achingly drawn-out soundscapes of classic synth-driven dark ambience.
By and large, this is melancholy, epic and at times even dramatic, orchestral post-industrial music. Let’s leave it at that. Vast audial vistas, painting images of majestic, desolate landscapes before the mind’s eye, coalesce with martial percussion and forlorn, even tender piano passages that speak of unconceivable, irredeemable loss and grief. A brooding male voice recites lyrics in French, as of some downfall long past. This is the music of a world in ruins, of a desolate world where the monuments of man have become cenotaphs of something long gone.
Rather unsurprisingly for music of this nature, few of the tracks stand out as a “hit”; rather, the album is to be taken in and experienced as a whole. Still, were I to namedrop one particularly strong track, it must undoubtedly be Le Feu Et Le Sang. Driven by a strong percussive element and rhythmic vocals chanting only the name of the track, it is at the same time exhilarating and brooding.
Prophéties D’Un Misanthrope is an album of stark atmospheres. It speaks of desolate landscapes, abandoned villages, the silence of ruins and the downfall of man. It is one of those albums you can sit and pay attention to and not get bored, but also works equally well as unobtrusive music to play in the background.
In a nutshell: an album more than deserving of a CD-release.
Only Death Is Real 