Amor Vincit Omnia

First listen was a shock. I didn't get it, the synths were so rough and primitive and all the space was gone. 2nd listen, the grooves started to work their way through and things began to come together. 3rd listen. ...

The band is at least 3 years down the road from TDT, they've grown and developed and forged ahead. Gone are the Floyd-esque ethereal spaces. The musical DNA is different, more European: London, Paris, Berlin, Ibiza, and the result is something uniquely its own, owing as much to the rhythms of the dance floor as the rock venue. A pared down line-up has given them a new raw earthiness, and they can lay down a nasty groove alongside their metal moments. The space is now full of bursting sounds and shimmering voices, with washes of dub and flashes of euphoria warping in here and there, and tracks unfold as moving and weaving and changing things. 21st century sexual politics to 21st century music, with a generous nod to the neuromantics, and some scorching guitar, soaring vocals and searing grooves.

The stunning vocal harmonies of Jon and Chloe spiral through the curtains of coruscating sound on the flat out guitar tracks: Victorious Cupid lurches in from the middle distance into a blistering twisted love song; the lonely madness of fractured waltz Keep Me Sane/Insane skitters and tumbles into the storm of Apogee; the monolithic Deus Ex Machina lands with a blast of electronics, before transforming into a Nordic glam stomp, with uber-riff and cathedral-esque vocal harmonies. Full on dance beats are played with industrial percussion, fierce guitars and the dirtiest mini moog sounds they could find. Les Malheurs kicks off with a brutal synth to a churning sex beat, like The Human League from Hell, prime remix material. Disconnect shows a grim humour with a cynical lyric set to sunshine electro-dub. The Gloaming looms in on a dark piano led electronic wave that washes over you, the voices sweep through the music, and the rest is for you to decide. The triumphant chant of Amor Vincit Omnia is sombre reflection and also hope and celebration, and for me encapsulates the passion and energy that has clearly gone into this album.

This music is not like what went before. This is something new and vital. This is down and dirty. And it's brilliant. Listen to this album for what it is and it'll blow you away. Make no mistake, Pure Reason Revolution just got a whole lot more interesting.

I am a big big fan of Pure Reason Revolution and regard their 2006 album, 'The Dark Third', as simply fantastic. However, their latest release fails to meet any expectation one might have had prior to listening to it.

PRR have changed their direction, and credit must be given for this, but in my view it is the wrong one. The superb guitar work and atmospheric keyboards that make 'The Dark Third' as good as it is, and defines what PRR are good at, seems to have been pushed to the background in the latest album with an 80's electro sound coming to the fore. Tracks such as 'Disconnect', and 'The Gloaming' lack imagination and 'Les Malheurs' reminds me of one of Vince's electro exploits on the Mighty Boosh and you have to question its inclusion.

Nevertheless, 'Amor Vincit Omnia' does provide a glimpse of what PRR are best at and tracks such as 'Victorious Cupid', 'AVO' and 'II, Apogee III, Requiem for the Lovers' save it from a 2 star rating, but still do not meet the standards set by 'Bullets Dominae' or 'Goshens Remains' (The Dark Third).

On its own, and if this was PRR's debut album, 'Amor Vincit Omnia' may have potential and one might excuse a few weak songs. It is, however, not their debut album. 'The Dark Third' is its predecessor and 'Amor Vincit Omnia' never breaks out of the shadow cast by its predecessor and leaves the listener with a craving for what once was.

I was absolutely gutted to learn recently that Pure Reason Revolution have broken up. 'Amor Vincit Omnia' is, without a doubt, one of my favourite albums of all time. As per the title of this review, I consider it a masterpiece, and I do not use that word lightly. It is forty-five minutes and twenty-two seconds of unceasing brilliance. Most of the people who dislike it or find it underwhelming hold this view either because they fail to understand the album, or because they do not find the style to their liking, which isn't entirely surprising considering how different it is from 'The Dark Third'. I loved TDT, and pre-ordered this album as soon as I could, based on the strength of the former, but now I scarcely listen to the band's debut. I would almost always rather hear the follow-up.

'Amor Vincit Omnia' is dark. Incredibly dark. It is one of the most emotionally powerful and psychologically affective musical works I have ever heard, and that's coming from a music graduate. The story of damaged love and intense bitterness that Jon Courtney et al weave (not in the form of a linear narrative, but in the form of glimpses, tableaux and reflections, as if Jon cannot bring himself to talk about it directly) is phenomenally moving, and contains an abundance of musical and lyrical brilliance. There are moments not only of the aforementioned bitterness, but also of tragic, undistilled heartbreak, of 'violent woe' (as Jon puts it), of incredible tenderness, of pathological terror (particularly the drunken, lurching synth at 6:50 in 'The Gloaming'), of utter numbness, of devastating pain, and of profound bleakness (especially in the complex ambivalence of the final track's triumphant resignation).

There is not a song on this album I don't adore. At first I wasn't too keen on 'Disconnect', but once I had taken time to fully digest it I came to love the bitter irony of its seemingly-upbeat cheesiness. In fact, everything I originally considered a flaw I have come to either overlook because of the astonishing quality of the music (the bizarre pronunciation of 'Machina' has long since stopped bothering me) or to see as an asset (I now consider the 'muddy' production to enhance the immersive atmosphere, though I'm perfectly prepared to accept that this is by fluke). The musical highlights for me include 'Deus Ex Machina', 'Les Malheurs' and 'Apogee', while favourite lyrics include "God's creatures rattle their cage; /Dull blisters ravage her face" ('Victorious Cupid'), "Did she sigh those psalms for me? /She catwalks to the bedroom and her scars just hold their seams; /Now watch the stars they pull our skin" ('The Gloaming') and "Damaged dust sheds lust; /Dead dust to dust" ('Disconnect'), but in truth these parts barely outshine their surroundings, owing to the consistent excellence of the album.

Musically intelligent, lyrically inventive and profoundly moving, 'Amor Vincit Omnia' will take you on a journey from which you cannot return.