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Misanthrope > Misanthro-thérapie: 15 années d'analyse > Reviews
Misanthrope - Misanthro-thérapie: 15 années d'analyse

A Big (Mixed) Bag Full of Misanthrope - 60%

Sean16, July 4th, 2020
Written based on this version: 2004, 2CD, Holy Records (Box set (2 CD + 2 DVD))

Second, and last to date, rarities boxed set from French experimental death metallers of Misanthrope was released for the band’s 15th anniversary in 2004. As such, it was intended both as a retrospective of its history, and as a way to appease the fans after the mixed reception of Sadistic Sex Daemon the year before. “Album of the Reconciliation”: that was explicitly written on the package, and that was another mistake. When you advertise your last opus this way, you’d better make it a pretty solid album; not a mixed bag of old leftovers with hastily recorded new tracks, covers, live songs and videos of fluctuating interest.

As far as sheer quantity is concerned, it is worth the money: almost two hours of music over two CDs, followed by two DVDs for four further hours of video. Coming to the quality, it is more disputable, as often when dealing with this kind of compilations. First matter of annoyance: it seems like the current line-up was attempting to partially rewrite the band’s history by minimizing any contribution from former bandmates. Xavier Boscher is for instance presented as a mere “special guest” on a couple of tracks, which is blatantly wrong: he’s never been a guest of any kind, but the full-time official guitarist when the guitar parts of these tracks were recorded... back in 2000. Some others ex-members are even totally forgotten (Alexis Phélipot on drums on a few tracks dating from 1999-2000, again). Such nitpicking is obviously of little importance to the casual listener. To the fan, it is another matter.

CD 1 – “Misanthro-thérapie”

This first disc mixes brand new tracks with partially re-worked old songs. Some of these were unfinished leftovers later completed for this release, while some others were already previously released in a different version. Of the latter, one number stands out: the collaboration with the neo-folk act Stille Volk on Conte Fantasmagorique, of which the regular version was found on Misanthrope Immortel. Meeting these two bands together does not come as a surprise, old friends both long-signed on Holy Records at the time, sharing a common taste for musical experiments. Stille Volk brings its trademark set of flutes, pipes and clean folk singing, and manages to blend it with the original melodeath backbone so naturally it sounds like the song itself, with its medieval-rooted metaphorical lyrics, was asking for such a collaboration.

Unfortunately, if it is an undeniable success, it is also the only re-vamped track which really works. Completing Amour Anthropophage, a slow semi-acoustic tune with backing female vocals which would have indeed sounded out-of-place on Sadistic Sex Daemon, was not a bad idea per se, if only said tune did not sound so much like a less inventive remake of Nuit Androgyne, the psychedelic ballad from Misanthrope Immortel. But what about Chair Organique? An obscure bonus track from the digipack version of Sadistic Sex Daemon, which did not exactly deserve a second chance, especially with the addition of insufferable French variété clean vocals (courtesy of Ludovic Loez from S.U.P.). Contemplation is dull, be it sung in French or English; another obscurity from Sadistic Sex Daemon here...

Even the new songs specially elaborated for this album fail to convince. Everything reeks of hasty songwriting, followed by equally hasty recording. Inspiration may stand out, a simple-but-solid mid-tempo melodeath number not devoid of small hints of power metal to lighten the mood, but perhaps is it only because it comes first. Otherwise, track after track the riffs are just plodding, unmemorable, totally predictable for anyone who previously listened to Sadistic Sex Daemon. Forget about the past orchestral madness, keyboards have become mere occasional background instruments; near to useless, so one may wonder why the band did not leave them out completely. And when all this is topped by politically explicit lyrics, like in Estampe Géopolitique, it borders on the grotesque.

Not counting the obvious fillers. Titan Fall is a mere orchestral/industrial intro, L’Antéchrist a Victor Hugo poem narrated over a further five minutes of ambient keyboard background. In Bassiste-de-Coeur Jean-Jacques Moréac pulls out his usual virtuoso bass wankery; not especially bad, but the guy can improvise hours over hours of the same whenever he feels like it. Minimum effort for minimum effect.

Granted, all this is technically irreproachable. Anthony Scemama, especially, confirmed with this opus he was a far more versatile guitarist than Jean-Baptiste Boitel, equally at ease with the rhythm and the leads, hence the decision from the band to continue with a single guitarist from then on. Still, at that point he lacked what this same Boitel may have brought on the albums from the late 90’s: his own brand of creativity. Reconciliation? It did not start so well.

Highlights: Inspiration, Conte Fantasmagorique.

CD 2 – “Traces indiscrètes”

Five live tracks, four covers, and a French-sung version of Khopirron (Le scarabéide bleu) which would have been more fitting on the first disk. This last one is the exact same song that was previously featured on Misanthrope Immortel, except for the vocals track; nothing groundbreaking. The live recordings are all taken from the same show (Paris 2003), and while they may boast the most acceptable, clearest sound of all the known Misanthrope live tracks so far – which is not saying much, alright – one perplexing point persists… the vocals. S.A.S de l’Argilière is a powerful live vocalist, anyone who’s ever attended a Misanthrope show would confirm it, so why is he sounding here so unnatural, forced and weak altogether? Definitely difficult times for the band, again.

Next come the covers. Coroner, At the Gates, S.U.P., and Trust: four genuinely different bands, of which the only similarity is to have inspired de l’Argilière et al. at some point of their career. The Coroner and At the Gates songs are nothing surprising, if one passes over the lyrics translated into French. Both are covered in a standard melodeath fashion which does not betray the originals. With the two last bands, however, we move further away from typical Misanthrope sound. The Trust song shows strong punk influence, complete with the explicit far-left lyrics emblematic of these French heavy metal pioneers. The choice of such a song to cover is certainly not anecdotal. If any, it proves once again the early 2000s were times of political engagement for Misanthrope – a move which may have alienated part of their original fanbase.

The S.U.P. cover eventually deserves a few words on its own, as it represents the further Misanthrope ever ventured into the realm of electronic music. Coming from Crematory (yes, the infamous German band), or even Dark Tranquillity, this would not have appeared so out-of-place. Programmed drums-and-bass loops, electro keyboards, distorted vocals: all elements so remote from the Misanthrope world, regardless of the period, that it almost sounds like a joke. Misanthrope was obviously close to S.U.P. at that time; remember, S.U.P. singer Ludovic Loez performed some vocals on Chair Organique, that’s on CD 1 right there. Still, the meaning behind this cover is unclear. But confusing the listener has always been part of the Misanthrope game; deal with it.

DVD 1

This DVD mostly consists in a lengthy interview, some studio footage, and eleven live videos recorded the year before. Or, more accurately, the interview is intermingled with the videos, which are regularly interrupting it. A questionable choice. At least is there a menu allowing to specifically target the videos.

The interview is more interesting than usual, as it features not only singer-and-official-spokesperson S.A.S de l’Argilière, but all the musicians which were part of the band at the time, including former guitarist and now sound engineer Jean-Baptiste Boitel. They reflect on its evolution – the early avant-garde dream of recording something never heard before, the Swedish trilogy, the recent line-up changes with a wish to return to a more brutal sound. Couple it with the historical videos from DVD 2 to get the complete picture. Most important, the way the bandmembers insist on portraying themselves as “normal people” is characteristic of their mid-2000s attempt at breaking the distorted image of arrogant pricks they had, perhaps unconsciously, built over the previous years; an image which, in spite of all their efforts, is still occasionally sticking to them nowadays. In French only, though (no subtitles).

The live videos give a good overview of the 2003 tour, including many songs from Sadistic Sex Daemon which were rarely played live again (Bonaparte, Révisionniste, L’extinction d’une étoile…). The sound quality is weaker than on the audio tracks from CD 2; though, paradoxically, the band overall sound better, tighter, and the vocals more energetic.

DVD 2 – “Bonus”

It is indeed ironical this last disc labelled as “bonus” may feature the most interesting material of the whole set. Just ignore the small share of dispensable footage – another, much shorter, interview which does not add anything, or random “behind the scenes” filling – to focus on the essential: roughly one hour and a half of live recordings, from obscure clubs circa 1990 to the 2001 tour following Misanthrope Immortel. In other words, a niece piece of metal archaeology following a band from its most humble beginnings to what will be later seen as the absolute top of its popularity – even though its members were likely not aware of it at the time.

One may again complain about the montage, though. Nothing to say against the videos taken on the 1999 and 2001 tours, but the older ones were simply merged into a gigantic medley naively named The Cult Selection, meaning not a single one of these old songs, some of them the band has dropped from its setlist for years, could be heard in its entirety. A shame, all the more than leaving out the useless content mentioned in the previous paragraph would have allowed some extra space for these forgotten gems (Aquarium, And Also the Lotus, Gargantuan Decline, etc, etc.).

The recording quality, obviously, varies a lot, the more recent the recording equalling not necessarily the better: Khopirron, for instance, dating from 2001, benefits from a decent image, strongly contrasting with a barely audible sound, buried under static. Most of the older footage is amateur, at a time it was not as easy as just brandishing a mobile phone – there were just no mobile phones at all. Even the few professional shootings, mostly from the 2001 tour, are proof that live video recording has gone a long way over the last twenty years. Regardless, this instable quality should not prevent anyone from witnessing a unique phenomenon: the slow metamorphosis of Philippe Courtois into S.A.S. de l’Argilière; of a melancholic young man whispering “May the Hate be with you” at the end of an anonymous show into a bragging, sunglasses-wearing decadent aristocrat cheering a crowd always too quiet for his taste.

So, to answer the initial question, is it worth the money? To a dedicated fan, yes. Only a dedicated fan would have ever considered throwing any money into that, anyway.

Great piece of Metal Art! - 100%

nahuel666, August 28th, 2004

This is a real piece of Metal Art! A de-luxe box set containing 2 CDs and 2 DVDs (limited to 2000 copies), as a celebration of the 15 years of Misanthrope. Fine box design, and a complete booklet with the lyrics and band pictures.

First CD, titled "Misanthro-therapie", contains some previously unreleased songs from 2000, 2001 and 2002, plus new songs recorded on 2004 exclusively for this edition. About special guests, one track includes Ludovic Loez from SUP, and another one includes the two guys of Stille Volk; the result of these unions are very interesting songs, enriched with a touch of the named artists. The new compositions are very powerfull; the band is back to the extreme Metal, with a more aggressive sound and lots of fast passages. Vocals (in french language) are more extreme than the previous 2 albums too. Great music, that promises an extreme Misanthrope again!

The second CD, titled "Traces Indiscretes", consists on some live songs recorded on Paris, some cover songs (At The Gates, Coroner, Trust and SUP) and a french version of the song Khopirron. Great sound quality and fine cover versions!! Note about the covers: all vocals are in french too!

About the first DVD, it includes declarations of the band members (in french, naturally, but no subtitles for the rest of the world!) and live songs, backstages, studio workings and more. If you can´t understand french, maybe you´ll be sleepy until the live songs appears.

The second DVD is a kind of bonus, with two concerts, and more live songs from very old days to present. Also you can see an interview and some studio recordings, plus some extra material.

Honestly, I never seen before something like that, in extreme music. For fans and collectors!!!