Riddled With Bullets
Hidden South
Embers, Then Ashes
Scapegoat
America's New War
Arkan
We Shall Never Surrender
Task Force Alpha
Neuroleptique
Sworn Enemies

The French label Hermetique have released some utterly compelling recordings from Radiodrama and Post Scriptvm…not forgetting their Propergol ties…wherefore art thou Clean-shaven & Un Dechainement re-releases? Here’s another one to add to that list.

Dusk of Hope are a new French dark ambient act whose only previous output was a track on the V/A compilation "Like Music to their Ears Vol 1". Their debut ten track release CD "Flexible Response" comes packaged in a DVD case with assorted postcards and inlay cards showing scenes from urban and industrial decay. The immaculate presentation emulates the music that Dusk of Hope have recorded. Think of the touch of cold concrete on the skin, of pylons rusting slowly before disintegrating, of bricks shattered into dust, of a wasteland populated only by rats, of the life sucked out of a once thriving community, of dead machines long since abandoned, of mother nature clawing back what once was hers. Armageddon time arrived too soo n. By using electronics and samples Dusk of Hope presents this look into the future and it’s not a nice place to be. The music hums and throbs with hisses of static flying through the atmosphere. Mechanical looped noise sends patterns of freezing air down the spine. A drum pattern emerges before being swallowed by clanking and shrieking pistons. Staying just outside of the power noise genre "Flexible Response" is a black ambient / experimental work of beautiful wonder. The hypnotic rhythms belie the gradually increasing tension that ominously surrounds and encompasses all the pieces.

Dusk of Hope state that "Flexible Response" is "Your Past - Our Present" and their vision is of a world in perpetual decay. Music that can conjure up such images so comprehensively shouldn’t be ignored and justifies your immediate attention. The future definitely looks bright for Dusk of Hope.

ANM