As many know, Un Défi d’Honneur is one of the A Challenge of Hounour side-projects by Peter Savelkoul, hailing from Limburg/The Netherlands.
This piece of vinyl comes in an absolutely stunning gatefold cover with marvellous artwork by Nikolay from Levoi Pravoi (whose release I also reviewed at Funprox). Besides being marvellous, the artwork is also quite unusual for the martial/industrial/ambient scene. So of course I wondered whether the music would be ‘something completely different’ as well. Uhm well, it isn’t!
No worries though, the music on Le Mort Homme is quite good. The first track is very melodic; heavy strings and martial drumming on the one hand; good melodies on the other. It reminds me a bit of some melodic Puissance material, or perhaps the more melodic side of Predella Avant. Track 2 offers more melodic and somewhat heroic/tragic neo-classical. Maybe not that complicated, but the melodies and arrangements are good and atmospheric.
Side B continues in the same vein. Heavy synths and drums with a bit of melody woven though the tracks. The last track again reminds me of Puissance (“In shining armour”), and is perhaps the most neo-classical track on this album. I’m not really sure, but I think there are some classical music and orchestra-samples manipulated for this track, and perhaps this goes for more tracks as well.
Overall this is a good release. The music is much more tranquil than I expected, but harbours some melodies that really sound tragic (which is good!). No 30’s jazz nightclub influences though, as one would have expected based on the artwork..
