Description
Creamy square shaped picture disc in die-cut 10″ gatefold cover
Therion’s limited EP ”Les Epaves” consists of five covers of French pop songs that didn’t make it onto the excellent ”Les Fleurs du Mal” record three and a half years earlier. Overall, this release is quite entertaining but doesn’t quite reach the quality of the regular album back then. The record goes away from Therion’s bombastic and classical trademarks and sounds even heavier than the direct predecessor. Especially ”L’amour Est Bleu” and ”La Fermeture Eclair” don’t feature any symphonic elements aside of the vocals but even the female chants are rather appeasing, grounded and modern. Both songs rely on vivid grooves and infectious rhythms and are somewhat simplistic by Therion’s sophisticated standards. It’s this unusual side of the band that contributes to this release’s undeniable charm. The other two songs are even more outstanding and memorable. ”Nous Ne Sommes Pas Des Anges” has a merry atmosphere and employs some vivid harpsichord melodies that give it a festive touch not unlike a Christmas carol. ”Ah-Hem-Ho-Hu-Err” rather reminds me of Christofer Johnsson’s side project Luciferian Light Orchestra and has a vintage sound and occult rock vibe reminding me of bands such as Iron Butterfly in the late sixties and early seventies. In the end, the four short songs as well as the alternative version of ”L’amour Est Bleu” are quite entertaining and show Therion in a different light. While ”Nous Ne Sommes Pas Des Anges” and ”Ah-Hem-Ho-Hu-Err” are intriguing enough and should have made it onto ”Les Fleurs du Mal”, the other two tracks are only good average heavy rock tracks with classically trained female vocals. In the end, this collector’s item is worthwhile for die-hard fans of the band but not essential for occasional fans that should simply go with the outstanding ”Les Fleurs Du Mal”.
Track list:
1. Lamour Est Blue-heavy version
2. Nous Ne Sommes Pas Des Anges
3. La Fermeture Eclair
4. Ah-Hem-Ho-Hu-Err
5. Lamour Est Blue-mellow version