Grand Guignol Orchestra

It had been quite some time since the last time I was listening to Pensées Nocturnes. In fact I found out in June about his new work, which I will also dedicate a review to. But today I am going to dedicate myself to reviewing an album that although it did not leave me so surprised when it came out, I did have a good time listening to it. Only with the title Grand Guignol Orchestra I had already felt motivated to listen to it.

Vaerohn wastes no time in his quest to create an introduction with a lot of rhythm and extravagance, because "Un trop plein d'rouge" is an introduction that literally says: Welcome to the circus of madness, sit back and enjoy the show. Pensées Nocturnes has always had ambition when it comes to expressing music, whether it is more complex, complicated, dramatic and even pretentious, and with the passing of time it ceased to be something new in the style that it shares, but that does not take away its freshness and originality. Although I must admit that there are bands that get more "sonic strangeness" in their compositions.

With the second track called "Deux bals dans la tête" the guitars already begin to take a strong role with those bizarre riffs, Vaerohn's voice already begins to show signs of madness, achieving the ideal atmosphere of a bar full of alcoholics, which they babble their unusual stories. With "Poil de lune" that show continues, but with a happier rhythm, so to speak, breaking the first lugrube steps of the album at the beginning. With "L'Alpha mal" the sound of the previous songs continues, but what begins to change are the voices, since they are more varied, experimental, crazy and manage to create more uneasiness than confusion.

Up to this point, Grand Guignol Orchestra is an album that bets on the most crazy thing that can come up. There is no central idea, a firm point from beginning to end, but something more deliberate. For example with "L'Étrangorium" you don't find a solid structure, but rather something that struggles not to fall to the ground, trying to stay on its feet, of course it doesn't. On this album there is only chaos.

However, not all deliberate pretense in this work works well. "Les valseuses" is not a song that has impressed me, in fact it was too long and too ornate. While with "Gauloises ou Gitanes?" something more direct can be seen. It's still strange, disconcerting in its style but you don't get bored listening to the song. But with "Comptine à boire" I got something special, its sound, guitars and voice are very familiar to me. And it reminds me a lot of that album that I adore so much by Pensées Nocturnes, Nom d'une pipe! That left me too amazed at the time. Needless to say, it's my favorite track on the album.

In "Anis maudit" you can find something similar to the previous song, but with the style of this work. And finally, the last song entitled "Triste sade" sounds to give an end to this insane work. Here is a game between two crazy voices, both contribute their own and the music with the passage of time becomes increasingly strange, gloomy and disturbing. And it is not for less, since if the album started in a crazy way, it has to end in the same way.

To be honest, it is not an album that has left me so surprised and now that I recently listened to it again and reviewed it, I come to the conclusion that it is a fun album to listen to, but that it does not shine as much as I would have liked. Unlike À boire et à manger, where Vaerohn rescued more of the melancholic roots of the first albums, achieving a certain consistency, Grand Guignol Orchestra is more disconcerting, ambitious and deliberate.