Pro Patria – Godless (Album – Insane Records)
Genre/Influences: EBM.
Format: Digital, CD.
Background/Info: Peter Vercauteren (PVC) set up Pro Patria in 1988. The Belgian EBM project came back to life a few years ago and started releasing new material. The band now joined hands together with Insane Records to unleash the newest opus “Godless”.
Content: I’ve always linked Pro Patria with EBM in the purest Belgian tradition; Front 242 was never far away in sound and image. “Godless” sounds like a project reinventing itself or at least exploring ‘new’ paths. The work sounds harsher, darker and more elaborated. The songs are more into a Dark-EBM approach and are often reflecting a kind of rage, which you can also notice in the production of the vocals. The first part of the album stands for the renewed approach of the band and features a few great EBM cuts. Some songs in the second part are more into some experimentalism.
+ + + : “Godless” features 14 songs and that’s an interesting amount to realize the evolution and progression of Pro Patria. Especially the debut tracks took me by surprise; aggressive sequences, heavy sound treatments and elaborated structures stand for the well-crafted production. The enraged vocals totally fit the menacing mood hanging over the work. It’s symbolized by great songs like “War! (Till The Day We Die)”, “Tomorrow”, “The Power Is Mine” and “Razorblade”. Globally speaking Pro Patria has evolved in sound and influences, leaving the Front 242 influence to reach a darker EBM style.
– – – : A few tracks from the second half of the album left me more skeptical. Songs like “Angel” and “The End” are more into some Experimental style and can’t totally convince.
Conclusion: Pro Patria remains an interesting ambassador of the Belgian Electro scene, the new work revealing a band in progression.
Best songs: “War! (Till The Day We Die)”, “Tomorrow”, “The Power Is Mine”, “Razorblade”, “Godless”, “Limits To Madness”.
Rate: (7½).
Artist: http://propatria.be / www.facebook.com/propatriaband
Label: http://insane-records.com / www.facebook.com/InsaneRecordsEU Read the news on ‘Godless’.
About Pro Patria
Pro Patria is the Belgian EBM project of Peter Vercauteren. Following “Godless” in 2021, the band self-released the album “Piercing Through The Armour” in 2022. Later that year Side-Line reported that Pro Patria was put on hold, with Vercauteren starting a new solo project under his own name and releasing “Metropolis” as its first track.
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I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.
