Rendez Vous - EMPEREUR

"Le groupe de rock que la France attendait"

We had left Rendez Vous in January 2020 after a tour of over 120 dates around the world and a sold out show at La Cigale in Paris. We find RDV again in May 2024 with "Downcast," their new album, and the first observation that arises is that the cursor has shifted - towards extremes. The highly effective post-punk anthems have given way to tracks of barely contained rage ("Sheer," "Dye and Retry"); simultaneously, RDV significantly slows down the tempo on a good portion of their new songs and establishes a new atmosphere that we hadn't seen from them before.

We discover a band just as capable of delving into the most relentless harshness as of producing pieces of great melancholic beauty ("Nothing," "Smoke 'Em Heads"), and therein lies the strength of this album. RDV has chosen to go against the trajectory one might have expected from them: 50% of (very) enraged tracks, 50% heart-wrenching pieces - the mid-tempo tracks often flirt with ballads and heartfelt cries. We didn't know RDV was capable of moving us to this extent ("The House Has Burned Down"), and the discovery is a happy one.

The other major change to note in RDV's sound is a step forward in the reference decade: abandoning its synthetic elements, the group releases a record that bears the presence of Frank Black, the Smashing Pumpkins, shoegaze, and grunge - one could even scratch the surface to the Deftones. However, don't see this as any hint of pastiche: "Downcast" is a pure product of its time, laying down markers for the years to come.

EMPEREUR (RELEASE PARTY)

Artificiant depuis une décennie dans l’antichambre du post-punk, après des dizaines de concerts éreintants et 2 EP cinglants, le trio bruxellois sort (enfin) son premier album, « Eau Rouge », le 21 février2025, sur les labels Icy Cold Records (Paris) et Rockerill Records (Charleroi). Prêt à en découdre avec la gentrification du post-punk, EMPEREUR distille à canon scié sa vague froide et binaire, et crache son venin aux allures de manifestes nerveux finis à l’acide.

En mission pour ajouter du Chaos au Chaos, les fûts résonnent à l’unisson d’une basse aiguisée contre un mur de larsens. Viscéral, tranchant, le tocsin résonne et ça défouraille de tous les côtés. 3 minutes parmorceau, c’est déjà trop pour hurler à la mort.« J’ai pris le large, j’entends le vide. »Les 3 gars auront l’honneur de vous présenter cet opus le samedi 22 février 2025, en première partiede leurs arrière-cousins parisiens.