It may be quite uncommon to pick as album of the week a record released back in May 11th. Probably it feels odd enough for most people but, what matters it isn't so much the time symmetry between release and review, what indeed matters is that there is no appropriate time to deservedly mention an album that is, in fact, one of the best releases so far this year. That was the case of french post punk/dark rock band Varsovie's third full-length titled "Coups et Blessures".
Varsovie's "Coups et Blessures" entirely sung in french. In case you don't deal well with the idiom, don't panic. The music is so impressive that you can definitely get into the dark, enigmatic, atmospheric mood of this infectious, addictive album. You'll be able to feel the poetic and emotional tension present in the whole album taking control of your senses.
The french post punk movement if we can label it so without hurting any sensibilities was always characterized by a certain gloomy, dark, electric, urban sense of despair and anxiety boosted by the poetic drama of the french idiom which gives to the songs an even darker, on edge of the knife sort of feeling. Varsovie's "Coups et Blessures" pays an absolutely fantastic tribute to such legacy.
The literary influences and strong of post punk ambiance make of coups et blessures one of the most visible examples of excellence in modern french music scene. Coups et Blessures is a strong statement of independence, strong identity in line with a remarkable aesthetic coherence, gloomy, fragile and at the same time strong and fierce, claustrophobic and gut wrenching wrapped in a dark, smoggy beauty that makes it almost vicious to listen to.
Varsovie's " Coups et Blessures" is probably the most important album to have been released after Marquis de Sade's "Rue du Siam" that will make history in the french independent, underground music scene. A fabulous return to the very best of European Post-Punk, in ages.
INDIEVOTION SCORE: 8.5/10