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From the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

L'Eau Rouge

The Young Gods

1989

L'Eau Rouge
Album Summary

L'eau rouge (French for The Red Water) is the second album by industrial band The Young Gods, released in September 1989 by Play It Again Sam Records. It is usually referred to as their masterpiece and was included in 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die in 2005.

Wikipedia

Rating

2.33

Votes

7076
Genres
Rock

Reviews

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Wed Oct 20 2021
2

Ok so it's like if a French Pink Floyd and 9 Inch Nails had a baby? But also the baby kind of sucks.

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Fri Jan 22 2021
4

What is THIS? Creepy, atmospheric orchestration under a growling baritone frontman, en francais? Count me in.

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Mon Oct 26 2020
2

You never know if you truly like something until you try it, and now I can say with confidence that French industrial rock songs about period blood are not for me. Best track: Les enfants

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Thu Dec 02 2021
2

I wanna get off the boat Mr Wonka

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Mon Sep 12 2022
4

Someone on here stated this album was like a mix between French Pink Floyd and Nine Inch Nails, then rated this album a 2, as if that was a bad thing. I thought that it was great.

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Fri May 21 2021
1

Angry French with his angry buddies pounding on their synthesizers. If I ever become crazy and lock someone in my basement, this will be on the playlist. From that moment on; they will know my pain.

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Fri Nov 26 2021
1

if tom waits were to have been born french and scored a high paced low budget slasher

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Fri Aug 13 2021
3

Pretty sure this is what Ministry would sound like if they were French and Al consumed more Brie than heroin. In other words, I enjoyed it. (But kinda missed the heroin.)

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Wed Jan 11 2023
5

Creepy, atmospheric, macabre, and definitely pretty unhinged at times. Really matched a piss-poor mental state at the very beginning of the year, on a horrible gloomy January day. I've gotta say I quite liked this. Feels like a French-language Rammstein in parts. Honestly I wish Halloween was coming up soon because this would be a perfect soundtrack for it, and I feel like this would be an experience to see live. Favourite: La fille de la mort

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Thu Jul 22 2021
5

i'm summoning ALL the patience my body has to offer, i WILL listen to this in its entirety. well it payed off around 4 minutes into the first song so that's great haha this is much more my thing. second song is going to be a banger can tell from the start. i love this so much lol this is so exciting. the title track is great too ugh. i got curious about the lyrics but i'm having trouble finding translations :( i'm used to listening to music in languages that i don't understand but lyrics are normally more easily available D: found rough translations for a couple of songs so that's better than nothing. vocals aside, the last two tracks sound way more like my idea of music from the 80s lol they're pretty different from the rest of the album. well i'm done, i enjoyed this a lot and i saved pretty much all songs so i'll probably just come back to the album.

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Thu Dec 02 2021
5

Gritty, Dark, and Circus/Cabaret. I fucking love the vocal delivery, grooves, and backing noise.

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Thu Feb 25 2021
4

Interesting album. Some great sounds and very experimental. Liked the mix of French and English and the different styles put together.

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Mon Feb 07 2022
4

This record reminded me of when former football commentator Gerald Sinstadt and I took a cricket bat to a bag of kittens. What a day. We went back to mine for a Happy Meal and then both licked out my mum. Gerald commentated throughout. Well... when he didn't have his mouth full of course. My word she had an ungodly amount of anal warts.

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Thu Oct 29 2020
1

- "wtf" - me after the first song - "W T F ?" - me after songs 2-14 - this album sounded like a weird combination of bad French rock and a Disney film soundtrack - needless to say, it just did not do it for me

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Sun May 09 2021
1

Ok, so there's noise rock and punk and black metal and industrial, and then there's this. This album was actively painful to listen to. This is p harsh, but the only reason it will be memorable will be from the scars left from listening to it.

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Sun Jan 23 2022
5

Even though I couldn't understand the lyrics I still understood the music. Great stuff.

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Mon Jan 02 2023
5

Älskar plattan och älskar dessa schweizare. Ägde maxisinglarna från skivan. Fick mig att köpa "plays Kurt Weill" också fast den var ju inte lika bra.

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Tue May 23 2023
5

When I saw this, I groaned, French, average rating of 2.3...is this another Serge Gainsburg. I was wrong, I loved this, French industrial metal...ie French Rammstien, sign me up

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Fri Jun 16 2023
5

Really cool French industrial. People here have no taste, this album is great. It sounds like Rammstein or Ministry.

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Mon Jun 19 2023
5

Had not been listening to this album for many years but still like it just as much. The way the songs are built up. The sound. It is alll great. Industrial music that does not sound ugly.

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Fri Apr 30 2021
3

Bizarre. I found this simultaneously repugnant and entrancing. Flitting from some sort of mad euro-thrash metal to the avant-garde (at times very much like Tom Waits - except in french, which really doesn't help). I must have played the whole album 4 or 5 times so far but I'm still no nearer to understanding what's going on. I don't even know if I like it or not. It just sits there, demanding to be played (again) and that way madness lies. I'm quite disturbed, both by it and how it makes me feel. I'm going to try never to play it again and to forget I ever heard it.

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Fri May 28 2021
3

On réalise rapidement lors de l'écoute que la grammaire française et la bonne prononciation des mots de la vie courante n'est pas la priorité de ce groupe suisse.

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Sun Aug 01 2021
3

Is this brave? Or stupid? Can’t decide. It’s like the weirdest pub band I can imagine! French industrial synth rock? Who the fuck knew! I’ll come back to it a few times before deciding for sure but at the moment it’s a solid 3. Some will adore this, many will loathe it!

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Sun Aug 15 2021
3

This was a fascinating industrial/cabaret album, I adore the atmosphere! Some of the songs were a little repetitive for my taste, but I liked most of them.

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Wed Jun 09 2021
2

okay industrial rock. I probably won't listen again.

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Wed Jul 14 2021
2

Not great, but not offensive. Some great theatrical moments in the early going. Not something I'd return to.

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Sun Aug 01 2021
2

Not my thing. Impressive for 1989 tho.

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Wed Jul 14 2021
1

Parts of this reminded of the boat tunnel scene in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It got weird, dark, a little creepy, and altogether unpleasant.

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Fri Jul 29 2022
5

I Listened To This A Month Ago. Gimme Something New please

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Wed Mar 22 2023
5

tupakkaa vetänä ranskis... jaha heti kun vähän kiinnostavampaa niin 2.31 ratinki. oikeesti aika vitun hyvä album, industriaalia..ei edes paljoa, ei ole koneiden tärinää ja vasaroiden kalinaa tarpeeksi.. INDUSTRIAL on genren nimi .. ja tylsimmätkin thrash metal peruspoppi sektiot on parempia kun kyseisen genren mainstream bändit. toivottavasti muitakin epäenglanti kieliä kun espanja/ranska/saksa on täällä piileskelemässä jossain heh... monet biisit liian lyhyitä, voisi olla enemmän kuin eka biisi... kuuntelin 2 kertaa suoaraan.. la fille de la mort

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Sat Sep 16 2023
5

A terrifyingly off-kilter French vampire boardwalk amusement park. A perfect soundtrack for a remake of The Lost Boys.

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Sat Sep 16 2023
5

Hmm, do I like this? It gets real metal in places, sometimes reminded me of what Laibach in French would sound like, and there were even a few times I thought of Tom Waits, and then back to the metal. I may not play this at parties, but I enjoyed listening to something quite distinctive today. Thank you.

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Thu Jul 15 2021
4

Good albom. Different to normal and french

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Thu Jan 21 2021
4

Really unique electronic/industrial/orchestral music from Switzerland that avoids sounding dated. I didn't hate the vocals. Glad to have the opportunity to listen to it. I might only come back for tracks 1 (La fille de la mort) and 9 (L'Amourir).

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Sun Jun 06 2021
4

I kind of love everything about this. It's sort of cute how dark it's trying to be. It reminds me a lot of the Moulin Rouge soundtrack, and I mean that in the best way possible. Love Les Enfants

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Fri May 14 2021
4

I have the album that came out on ipecac, but that recorded many years later. Zero similarities, lol. This is weird drunk bar music, thrash industrial, modern classical??? This is amazing.

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Fri Sep 10 2021
4

Hated the vocals a lot but this album disturbed/even scared me to earn very respectable 4 stars

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Thu Oct 07 2021
4

After the eight minutes of La fille de la mort I understand a connection between industrial and post-punk which I missed before. If this album came out today but with more traditional rock backing I would be as interested as I am in hindsight. The strings are just traditional enough for me to grip as the band dives into more obviously industrial territory. Some of the samples come across as anti-The-Mood, but it's relentlessly intriguing. A grower because of that confusion, perhaps, but great on first listen. There is truly little new in music.

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Fri Oct 15 2021
4

Really great stuff. Super ahead of its time.

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Mon Nov 08 2021
4

Solidly enjoyable album, caught maybe 33% of the french words haha

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Fri Dec 10 2021
4

Enjoyed it more than expected, although it's eerie soundscape was off-putting.

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Fri Dec 17 2021
4

decent fun, french industrial growling

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Mon Jan 03 2022
4

Kurt Weill, Swans and Einstürzende Neubauten walk into a bar... Seriously though, any band that influences Bowie rates high for me. Wasn't that familiar with this album and only ever got into T.V. Sky, the follow up to this which is in English. Not an album that I will have on high rotation due to its brutal sounds but this rates high for me

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Mon Feb 07 2022
4

Allez la Suisse! Hopp Schwiiz! Whatever the Italian version of Go Switzerland is! The Young Gods, the third great Genevan export - just behind Calvinism and money laundering. If we're going Swiss though, can we get some Celtic Frost as well please oh lords of the list?

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Fri Mar 11 2022
4

quite good yet put me in a really sour mood

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Wed Mar 23 2022
4

Strange one this as it is tagged as industrial music I was expecting more of an "Einstürzende Neubauten" feel, but this is something different. Heavy reliance on sampling/tape loops I can see credit in it's ingenuity and creativity, but..... I realise I am not an aficionado of Swiss Post Punk Industrial music. "Criers Les Cheins" "Charlotte" "Envoye'" (Live Zurich21/12/89) are the most appealing tracks I think but not one on my list of greatest albums I am afraid. Perhaps the Live experience is better than the record? Wouldn't be the first time would it.

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Thu Mar 24 2022
4

Who'd a thunk a French language metal album would bethis good? Rating 4 so I take a moment to listen again

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Sun Apr 03 2022
4

From the cover, which is pretty good, I expect something noisy. Never heard of the band. And diving in we've got ... French? OK reading about them, Swiss Industrial. Alrighty, I'm game. Starts out surprisingly dainty and one could even say a bit Swiss. Gets louder and weirder and kind of industrial. This guy has a great growl. I like the strings and other things going on. Really good pacing and transitions in places. Ultimately a bit wearing. Liked Rue des tempetes and Longue route was the most, um, accessible? and gave me what felt like solid ground to decide I like them pretty well. 3.5 stars. Rounding up for innovation.

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Thu Apr 28 2022
4

Never listened to this industrial group for some reason. It's a good record! Love the lo-fi experimental sound, which has a kind of collage feel applied to grizzly rock sounds. The best tracks are menacingly dark. Sometimes the deep growled vocals verge on making it a caricature of edgy cool macho music (or like a homage to early Swans). The track "Charlotte" has a kind of gothic cabaret feel, which I did not enjoy at all. But overall, 4*. It's like Swans meets Faust or something. Glad I heard it.

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Mon May 16 2022
4

Interesting moody French industrial record. Loved it - so moody it actually spooked me out while listening on a night time drive. Kind of a gem like Suicide’s debut.

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Thu May 26 2022
4

Jako kul i jako zanimljiv album. Osjecala sam se ko da slusam neki mjuzikl. Vjerojatno moulin rouge zbog kabareta.

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Sun Jun 26 2022
4

Stylistically it feels like two albums competing with each other but its still a very enjoyable album

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Sun Jul 31 2022
4

A touch of Nine Inch Nails, a touch of Tom Waits, a touch of Slayer, except Swiss. It's a very likeable mix! I'm definitely coming back to this!

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Thu Aug 11 2022
4

Not something I expect to listen to again but glad to have had the opportunity

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Thu Aug 18 2022
4

This is some wild French avant garde, industrial, symphonic music. A wild and crazy ride. I must return to this album.

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Thu Sep 01 2022
4

Bonkers! I respect what is happening here. Will probably not be in my regular rotation but it was refreshingly different for a change.

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Thu Sep 15 2022
4

This is not an album that I would have chosen to listen to if not for this list. I enjoy industrial music, and the symphonic aspects mixed with the growled French made for a very ominous and engaging sound. Occasionally the guitar tone came off more hair metal than anything, but I found that more humorous than anything.

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Wed Dec 07 2022
4

Wow its been a while since I've had a truly interesting album come through. The Young Gods with their dark industrial sound symphony like arrangements and the deep guttural voice of their lead singer was like a match made in heaven. Would love to see them live! Best: Crier Les Chiens Worst: Pas Mal

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Thu Jan 19 2023
4

Yes please! Strange and interesting, creepy, varied, driving, excellent use of orchestration. Still sounds unique and modern. Another one of those vocalists whose voices I can't get enough of.

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Fri Feb 10 2023
4

This is currently number 9 lowest scoring album on the whole site. What's the matter, people, is Swiss industrial cabaret really so far out there? 😒 I dug it. Enjoyed the more straight forward industrial tracks most, but the cabaret was still entertaining. Fave tracks - "Longue Route" and "Pas Mal" could almost be Ministry tracks, so yeah, them 🤘

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Fri Feb 10 2023
4

Oh wow, this starts very subtly and then jumps into wonderfully angsty fun. Just the kind of mood I was in today. I love the duality of La fille de la mort, and my fave track would be Crier les chiens.

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Mon Mar 06 2023
4

Ongulés ! Les ongulés arrivent ! This is like a French 'Swordfishtrombones' era Tom Waits, but even more demonic and genuinely terrifying. Not something to listen to with a baby, but very striking and perfectly achieves it's artistic vision. An industrial masterpiece. Rating: 4/5 Playlist track: Rue des Tempêtes Date listened: 05/03/23

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Wed Mar 15 2023
4

This was one of those albums that are too strange to ignore and, simultaneously, too much strange to enjoy fully. I like how the 1001 list helps me get out of my "comfort zone" so strongly that I end the experience with nothing to say about what I have listened to. This album does not deserve to lie on the worst albums list of the Global stats (it is still there on the day I'm listening to it). Maybe I'll change my mind before confirming my rate, but it is a 4-star album in its weird way to surprise me.

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Wed Mar 15 2023
4

Had a bit of a similar sound to Coil, but French. Most of the first track had me not really looking forward to the rest. Happily, it improved. One of those albums that just wouldn’t be great on headphones

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Wed Apr 12 2023
4

Weird prot-proggy french music

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Sun Apr 30 2023
4

Ahahahahahah this is fucking mental, I love it. There's no way I would ever have listened to this were it not for this project. I had a young god's t-shirt when I was a kid, used for decorating and whatnot, I have no idea where it came from or who they were. Gets less mental as it goes on and reverts to more standard industrial rock, which isn't a bad thing but I would kind of liked an album as crazy as the first few tracks the whole way through. Ah! Les Enfants! We are back in crazytown, good times. This is fabulous.

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Fri May 26 2023
4

It's an odd coincidence that I was just watching a documentary about the history of industrial music the other day and get treated to an industrial album today. This album has a lot of the elements that would be featured in the industrial music of the 90s. It develops a little bit slowly, which is fine, but I'm more used to industrial in the mold of NIN or Ministry. Overall, it's a really cool album that serves as a nice transition from the early industrial stuff that was pretty hard to listen to and the really popular industrial stuff from the 90s and 00s. 4/5

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Fri May 26 2023
4

Never even remotely heard of this one before! But the Wikipedia genre tags of industrial rock, dark cabaret, and symphonic metal certainly caught my attention. The first track is a slow burn that had me feeling like I'd been duped for a few minutes, but once the album gets going it goes. Bowie, The Edge, and Mike Patton all cite The Young Gods and their sample-based approach to music as an inspiration. After listening, and reminding myself a few times that this was released in 1989, I can see why - this is super cool stuff. I'm not well-versed in the history of industrial music to know what else was going on around this time, but it certainly sounds to me like this was probably ahead of its time. Some parts definitely sound aged by now, but a lot of it stands up pretty well. Will definitely be revisiting this one!

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Wed May 31 2023
4

This album was a trip. From calm, beautiful tones to an absolute barrage of noise.

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Tue Jul 04 2023
4

Wild French rock, pretty good stuff there. 4 stars.

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Fri Jul 14 2023
4

Never have I heard a French person so angry. Softer instrumental moments like the opening to the first song and the entirety of “Charlotte” sound like Tom Waits if he learned French, while the rest of the tracklist is closer to Captain Beefheart but going completely industrial. This shits cool

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Mon Aug 07 2023
4

This album may have been influential for the time (to be honest, I don’t really know), but it’s just fine nowadays. L’Eau Rouge is an industrial rock album, with some twists. Most importantly, its use of orchestral instruments. There are a few points (I think like 3 songs) where the Young Gods bring in an orchestra and these songs are the best on the album. The first track in particular is neat for starting as this nice and soothing orchestra piece before becoming abrasive and harsh. The vocals become more guttural and the song just works. It’s probably why the first track is my favorite track. The other tracks using strings are neat, but it’s the first track that does it. I should also note there’s this metal sounding song that uses the orchestra and it’s pretty cool, albeit it’s only one song near the beginning. Other than that, it’s just industrial rock. I will give it credit, some of the production choices are really interesting, like the use of sampling (something you don’t see everyday when listening to rock music) and the manipulation of those samples (sometimes they are made quieter then louder and then quieter and also the reversal and un-reversal of said samples) which add some flavor to this album. Other than that, this album does really just peak in the first song. It’s something I truly hate when the first song is so good and then the rest of the album is good but nowhere near as good as the first song. I kind of wish the album was just the use of orchestra and sampling as I think that’d be neat. As it stands, it’s an interesting industrial rock album that could have been more. 7/10.

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Thu Aug 31 2023
4

Album #12 Full disclosure - I do not speak or understand French so I cannot make an opinion on lyrical content. Where has this album been? This sounds like the French analogue of Pretty Hate Machine-era Nine Inch Nails. A little more minimalist though, but it works. I really enjoy this style of music (industrial), with short samples being looped, heavy guitar work and driving drumwork. I also like the circus-sounding samples in some of the songs. I feel like I should be listening to this while reading some Sandman comic books. A firm 4* from me.

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Sat Sep 16 2023
4

This was interesting. Kind of a French electronics-heavy metal by way of Tom Waits. I’m not in love with it and suspect additional listens wouldn’t change that, but it sure was interesting to listen to.

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Sat Sep 16 2023
4

This was very intriguing for my ears...at least to a point, then my ears started to get weary.

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Tue Sep 19 2023
4

Those vocals are eerie as fuck, but it REALLY works with the instrumentals? Perfect for the start of autumn. Depending on what kind of autumn you wanna have.

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Wed Sep 20 2023
4

"L'eau rouge" is the second album by Swiss industrial rock band the Young Gods. Industrial rock, dark cabaret and symphonic metal are the listed genres. I like those descriptions. The Young Gods bandmembers are Cesare Pizzi (keyboards), Use Hiestand (drums) and Franz Triechler (vocals). This album is considered their masterpiece. Interestingly, the band decides to open with a waltz in "La fille de la mort" ("The Daughter of Death"). Didn't see that coming and not the last one. There's a droning organ and synth strings. Lead singer Franz Treichler is screaming. The song changes near the end and goes chaotic with the keyboards; they do that a lot throughout the album. "L'eau rouge" ("The Red Water") is dark with a hypnotic drumbeat. Franz with a creepy voice. The song speeds up and again goes chaotic, this time a guitar added. The drums are all over the place. The second side opens with "Longue route" ("Long Route"). Alright, this is more like it. A thrash metal guitar. Pounding/thumping drums. Random gunshot sounds. More metal guitar. Rumbling drums and a slashing guitar welcome us to "Les enfants" ("The Children"). Weird and dramatic synth sounds. The guitar and synth echo each other. I don't what he's doing or saying but it doesn't sound good. This was fairly intense. I like intense. I'm a fan of late 80's/90's industrial music and bands like Ministry and NIN and this fits that. They add a little variety with the waltzes, thrash metal guitar and drumbeats. Recommended for metal/industrial music fans.

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Mon Sep 25 2023
4

Weird but listenable, might give it another go with some more space and time.

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Sun Jan 24 2021
3

Was wondering what this would be - I assumed some kind of Euro alt rock before listening. Wiki says it's industrial but it doesn't sound like the other stuff I've heard... ok by the second song it's more like KMFDM/Ministry/Skinny Puppy etc. Still different to those bands though, like it's more performance art than music. I'd describe the tracks less as songs and more as "pieces", if that makes sense (or Stücke, if I was going to be a wanker about it). Would probably listen again though, probably will. 3/5.

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Wed Mar 31 2021
3

At first I wasn’t sure about this album, but I was pleasantly surprised with it.

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Sun Apr 04 2021
3

I'm really enjoying the foreign language records chosen for this book. They're all pretty stellar (imagine that) and I probably would never have listened to them otherwise.

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Wed May 05 2021
3

Definitely out there but some of it was actually pretty cool. Saved track: “Rue des tempetes”

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Sun Feb 14 2021
3

Liked this more than I was expecting to. The sampling approach is interesting, reminds me a bit of how Thr Prodigyvusea guitar samples. The vocals were slightly hard work because they were in French and quite prominent in the mix. Overall I liked it and it seems to have influenced some cool people! 7/10

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Mon May 03 2021
3

French industrial. Singer sounds like Rammstein.

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Thu Jul 08 2021
3

Very different from most of the music I've heard in my life, which is why I love this '1001 Albums' project so darn much. This is a wild album with wild energy and some really interesting stuff going on. Not sure if these musicians love horror movies, but it definitely won't surprise me if they do. All sorts of clashing noise, dissonance, frenetic rhythms and changes, hard-driving' industrial sound. Not at all what I normally listen to musically, and I honestly went in expecting to hate it (I know, I know: I do try to push away expectations but I don't always succeed) but it actually kind of drew me in at times (yet another excellent feature of this project).

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Thu Jul 22 2021
3

this is an odd one, but I like it. Going from weird accordion sounds to industrial every other track...

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Thu May 27 2021
3

Not my genre and I don’t speak the language, but I can respect the fact that the album sounded connected and they did it well.

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Tue May 25 2021
3

I can't understand a word that is said, but it sounds pretty good. Kind of sounds like if Rammstein wrote music for a stage show.

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Fri Aug 13 2021
3

Scary music! Was a fan though.

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Wed Sep 15 2021
3

9/23 Really liked the first song then from there it got much more industrial and experimental, didn't love it but it was interesting throughout. Standout Tracks: La fille de la mort, Charlotte, Crier les chiens

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