Puissance - Back in Control (1998)

A fine effort this. Beautifully crafted Classico-militarism from the disturbed minds of Möller and Soderlund. As the opening track - Actinium - begins to unfold, the sound of dragging weights and the repetitive tick-tocking of what sounds like a simulated clock can be heard measuring the Earth’s rollercoaster ride to what Puissance would have you believe is the inevitable Apocalypse. Evolution comes next. Herein lies the unmistakable sound of a loading rifle, nicely combined with a vocal exercise in ultra-pessimism: “Mother earth cracked open like a cheap whore/Open wide and take a cruise missile between your thighs/Swallow/You will be fucked by the humans to whom you gave life/The death of the world/It will be a glorious day and god will be up there in the sky smiling for all his work is done/The divine comic strip ends and we never understood.” Next up: Love Incinerate. Wow! Carl Orff meets Tubeway Army in a neo-operatic dreamscape of winding keyboards. Meanwhile, Bloodwed gives you some idea how a London Underground platform announcement must sound like to a hallucinating rat, as it lies hunched in the darkness of its tunnel lair. Command and Conquer is a Caesarean odyssey, and the thumping power of this track defies you to do anything but. Clearly something to which the more literal interpretators amongst you can raze whole villages to the ground. Artificial Sun is Black Metal without the metal. Resembling, perhaps, a less frenzied interlude on your average Emperor CD. But whilst this track is futuristic Classical at its most poignant and extreme, Stagnate and Perish (Resculptured Version) represents a more Industrial sound similar to that of Lustmord, albeit with an inadvertent sprinkle of something resembling the Timesteps Excerpt from the soundtrack of A Clockwork Orange thrown in for good measure. Finally, we are treated to the sheer brilliance of Totalitarian Hearts. A real battle anthem this, and very Allerseelenesque. Cross an Apprentice Boys’ parade with the ‘here comes the cavalry’ scene from your average Western and you’re on the right lines . . . I think! Make no mistake: The Puissance army is truly on the march.

Review taken from S Y N T H E S I S.

01 - Actinium
02 - Evolution
03 - Love Incinerate
04 - Bloodwed
05 - Command & Conquer
06 - Artificial Sun
07 - Stagnate and Perish
08 - Totalitarian Hearts

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