Pure Reason Revolution - Amor Vincit Omnia [Album]

Superball Music

I can’t quite remember how I stumbled across Pure Reason Revolution for the first time back in 2005, but I do remember how dumbfounded I felt. The track was ‘The Bright Ambassadors of Morning’ from their debut EP Cautionary Tales For The Brave, and I’d never heard anything quite like it. It was one of those moments where you then proceed to tell all your friends about its brilliance, and post about it on music forums etc. This snowballed and soon enough I had converted, if not quite an army, a size-able platoon of fellow fans. Sadly, I also remember how slightly disappointed I felt by their debut album The Dark Third after the magnificence of the EP. Sure, it still featured the astounding track that first caught my attention, but none of the EP’s other tracks appeared, replaced by their slightly poorer cousins. It was a bit of a damp squib after the wonder of that first encounter.

Given this and the line-up change(Singer/guitarist Jon Courtney and singer/bassist Chloe Alper are the only original members of the band still remaining), I approached their new album Amor Vincit Omnia with a little trepidation, whilst hopeful that they may now recapture that early form. The opening electronics of “Les Malheurs” suggest that the band have hired in some dance music devotees to replace their fallen comrades, but whatever the reason for the slight departure, Amor Vincit Omnia is replete with far more electronics than either their debut EP or album. What is perhaps the most surprising thing about the opening track though is that it never actually manages to go anywhere, which is strange for a band whose songs normally go a thousand different places. The track kind of sums up the band up to this point; it never realizes its full potential.

Now newfangled electronics aside, Amor Vincit Omnia still has much that is familiar. The customary complex song structures still remain in many of the tracks, and the production is certainly recognizable, but it’s here that the album first falls down. As you would expect from a Pure Reason Revolution release, much of this album takes repeated listens to appreciate, but it only takes one to realize how completely overproduced the whole thing is. I’m not sure if Mr Sheen or Mr Muscle are on the credits, but it sure sounds like they had a hand in it somewhere, and that’s not to say that big production can’t work, just not poorly overdone production. This, and PRR’s inability to know when less is more, turn Amor Vincit Omnia into musical foie grois; a lavish collection of songs force-fed on thousands of ideas.

The succinctly entitled trio (although technically only two tracks) of “i) Keep Me Sane/Insane” and “ii) Apogee iii) Requiem For The Lovers” just about sums up this thought and the band as a whole – it’s just too much. They have so many ideas, but need to know how to use quality control to make sure only the best ones are developed. Pure Reason Revolution must have the most spotless cutting room floor in the business.

And as if to prove my point, when they keep things relatively simple, it works wonders, as with “Disconnect” which starts off like Daft Punk with its robotic vocal, and although it obviously never reaches the French duo’s genius, it does perhaps hint at the direction they need to maintain. It’s the first time the band have injected a song with any real soul, and it sounds all the better for it.

It’s hard to say whether or not Pure Reason Revolution will ever impress me the way they did with Cautionary Tales For The Brave, as perhaps my disappointment with this album is due to my ever evolving tastes as much as it is the band’s own failings. Indeed even that debut EP hasn’t stood the test of time, and isn’t nearly as impressive now. Amor Vincit Omnia translates as“Love conquers all”, but for whatever reason - love don’t live here anymore.