EMPEREUR - Eau Rouge

A plunge into the most blinding red. A colour that best describes the blood-red, visceral music of Empereur, a band active for several years now but only just arriving at their first full-length. It has to be said that Belgium has, of late, been producing no shortage of interesting acts, starting with Whispering Sons. Here, though, the approach leans towards reclaiming post-punk roots in a thoroughly neurotic, pulsating form, with an eye also on certain acts from the other side of the Channel (early Idles and the like). Which is exactly why "Eau Rouge" turns out to be a dynamic, incendiary, thoroughly of-the-moment album.

Only twice do the tracks on this record stretch past three minutes: a jolt of adrenaline, then straight on to the next one, right through to the rough-edged close of "Unisson", the epilogue that perfectly squares the circle. But let's rewind and get the dancing going again, because "Eau Rouge" is an album that takes off without ever really landing. Once you're on board, it's not easy to get off.

If the guitar on "Amor Fati" cuts like a sharpened blade, the title track (chosen as the second single) breathes an ever more overwhelming crescendo. In between sits the whip-crack bass of the irresistible "Trompe-L'Œil", a track where Empereur clearly enjoy pouring fuel on the fire (the refrain unleashes a hell that's just waiting to explode live). It's also a nice touch that they sing both in English and in their mother tongue, a device that places the Brussels group within an international dimension that's still instantly recognisable (the impetuous French of "Fracture" stands out, a gem to leap around to in the most frenzied pit).

Between full-throttle moments (“Still Life”) and more easygoing passages (“Hanging Around”), we also find something more sophisticated: that's the case with “Electric”, where the instrumental roots seem planted in the fertile soil of fellow countrymen Gang Of Four. The fact remains that Empereur, even while shamelessly drawing from the past, still manage to look us in the eye in the present, cranking up a sound that's in some ways aligned with the recent (post)post-punk scene, but at least free to express itself with absolute vehemence. When chaos becomes addictive, why hold back?

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28/02/2025