Even from their great first single "Envoye" in '86 and the first, untitled album in '87, the Young Gods from Switzerland had ecstatic reviews ("the future of rock music") all over. Melody Maker made their debut release album of the year. Despite that, they never seemed to make much progress, even though releasing 5 albums with international distribution is remarkable for such an innovative band.
The only original member on the newest release Only Heaven is Franz Treichler from Geneva, vocalist and brain of the band. Use Hiestand took over the drums in '87, Alain Monod has been playing the samplers since '89. Vocals, drums and samplers was always the whole lineup of the Gods, certainly most unusual for a rock band; they were the first to build up their music completely on samplers. Also worth mentioning is producer Roli Mosimann, who has worked with New Order and The The.
While the music of the Gods was always highly interesting, it was challenging at the same time, the huge wall of guitar samples and industrial noise made them an acquired taste. Things have slowed down somewhat on Only Heaven, and the effect is largely positive. There are still tracks with aggressive industrial samples, like "Strangel" and "Kissing The Sun", but even those have some slower passages that leave time to breathe. The center piece is the 16 minute long "Moon Revolutions", using a nice sample for the basic beat in the first part, evolving into a very ambient sound with tons of great samples in the middle part, and ending at a faster pace, with almost tribal drums. Other tracks confirm the widened scope of their music, like the ballad-like "Child In The Tree" with an acoustic feel, or "The Dreamhouse" with playful samples that remind of our co-patriots Yello.
The orchestral (Mozart) samples from the early releases have disappeared completely. The sources of the samples are hard to figure out, many of them sound sort of familiar from daily life, but they get a completely new identity inside the music. Treichler's vocals are sometimes slightly melodic, but most of the time they are still in his unique, intense, but at the same time almost whispering, style. The lyrics are mostly English, only going back to French at a few places.
Only Heaven is certainly less radical and violent than the Gods used to be. The gothic/industrial sound is made more accessible by ambient influences, making for a more relaxed style. But the result is more than the sum of its parts, it still sounds consistent, and mostly brilliant. This is still not music that will attract the mass audience, but music lovers with an open mind will find an album that will reward their time investment many-fold.
The Young Gods have a web home at http://www.mcnet.ch/gods. This also contains detailed tour information, they are just finishing up their US tour and will have many dates in Europe from September to December.
