Every now and then you run into a CD that you know you should like, but just don’t. Prélude A La Ruine by French Nemo is such an album. I’ve listened to it several times now and I still can’t understand why I don’t like it. I consider their previous album Presages to be one of the best albums of 2003; the band combines rock, jazz, sympho, metal and is truly innovative. Why can’t I hear the beauty in Prélude A La Ruine? In a way it reminds me a bit of The Music That Died Alone by The Tangent. It is widely considered to be the best album of 2003 but I don’t like a single note of it. Strange, since I absolutely dig all the other projects by Stolt and co. (Flower Kings, Karmakanic, Kaipa). One of the things that baffled me most is the fact that I don’t like the vocals on Prélude A La Ruine, strange since I consider the vocals on the previous albums to be of the highest quality.

It might be due to the fact that the new music is a bit rougher, more metal orientated. A consequence is that the vocalist has to go along with this, resulting in ... screaming actually. A rougher approach to music requires a delicate and accurate production and I fear that this is one other point where this album falls short. I actually prefer listening to it on low volume. As an objective reviewer I can’t say otherwise than that the songs on Prélude A La Ruine are of the highest quality. All have great melodies, original structures and interesting arrangements and I’m sure that this one will also pop up in many best of 2004 lists. I should therefore probably give this album a high rating if it weren’t for the fact that I don’t like the album at all.