Delusion Squared is a new and young French trio consisting of Lorraine Young (vocals, guitar), Steve Francis (guitar, drums, keyboards) and Emmanuel De Saint Méen (bass, keyboards). The eponymous debut album tells a fictional story which is extensively explained in the booklet. After listening to this album several times I still had mixed feelings about it. The opening track The Very Day is an up-tempo pop song with a pleasant rhythm. Unfortunately the vocals of Lorraine Young are really flat. The well-flowing transition to the ballad In My Time Of Dying is nice, but not very original. In the second part you hear some mediocre distorted vocals and a heavy guitar; this certainly is not my musical preference. Copyfrighted Genes is a modern, almost instrumental song in the vein of Propaganda or The A lan Parsons Project. In the rocking parts of the song, Mr. Francis and Mr. Emmanuel do their utmost, but sadly the screaming voice of Miss Young spoils that effort. This is also the case in The Betrayel. The music has enough variation, but Lorraine Young's voice that sounds like a ten-year old girl, is boring. By The Lake (Mourning) is much better, but as soon as she starts singing in By The Lake (Seeding) I could no longer pay attention. The remainder of the album has the same poor quality level. However, sometimes they offer some good musical parts with nice and heavy riffs, but Lorraine Young kills most of the songs. My final conclusion: the music of Delusion Squared is worth three stars, but the vocals of Miss Young deserve no more than a zero which finally results in one star and a half. So forewarned is forearmed: before you buy this one, please listen to it first at your local record dealer shop or via internet. *+ Cor Smeets (edited by Peter Willemsen) Where to buy? |
