At some point in 2005, someone recommended that I give VNV Nation a listen and suggested that I find "Matter + Form" first. I agreed and was satisfactorily impressed, but I had the nagging feeling that there was something more to this group than what that album had let onto. I dug a little deeper and discovered "Empires," and rather than being mildly content with my find, I was blown away. "Empires" was everything I had wanted from an electronic music album but had previously been unable to find.

Basically, there are two types of songs on "Empires": one type is slow, soft, introspective, and comparatively rare; the other type is fast, hard, (still) introspective, and thankfully abundant. The interesting thing about "Empires" (and VNV Nation in general) is that while much of the music possesses obvious electronic pop sensibilities (familiar chord-progression patterns and common rhythms, for example) the music never becomes accessible enough to qualify as "pop." The song "Rubicon" is perhaps the perfect example of this; the song moves along at a galloping speed, has a catchy chorus, irresistable arpeggiated chords that bring to mind Tangerine Dream sped up to 180 BPM, and a set of lyrics that any songwriter should be jealous of. And despite all of these factors, the song, the album, the band are all too cerebral, too Apollonian, simply too above it all to appeal to most of the plebs who dance the night away to derivative electro in darkened rooms under chemical enhancement. The pulsating instrumental "Saviour" is the song that comes closest to being a rave hit, but still manages to impress upon the listener that there is more going on here than music designed to get one's body moving. Harsher tracks populate the second half of the album, reaching their climax with the angry, determined "Darkangel" and then falling into the abyss with the calm, contemplative "Arclight," which completes the circle of the album by lengthening and adding a vocal line to the instrumental "Firstlight" that began the album. This structuring is significant because the album is meant to portray the lifespan of a generic empire (although arguably one based almost entirely on Caesar's Rome). In this, the album suceeds admirably, as the excellent lyrics prove.

The only negative about "Empires" is the fifth track, "Fragments." It is atonal and dissonant, lacking any but the most superficial similarity to the far more sophisticated tracks on the album. It sounds not unlike several tracks on the band's follow-up "Futureperfect," but given the greatness of the other 9 tracks, a single misstep is easily forgivable. Being one of my top 5 favorite albums from any genre, "Empires" is highly recommended to anyone who appreciates electronic music that is more than a catchy beat.

(Note: I originally wrote this for Amazon.com but decided to post it here since there is no review for this great album on MOG.)