Thompson Twins changed their name to Babble in 1993 to move away from their synth-pop identity. Seldom does this happen in rock or metal with the most notable exception being Idle Hands, who changed their name to Unto Others for legal reasons. In the case of Your Inland Empire, it’s a clean transition from the industrial doom quartet known as Crown to a synth-focused rock band. The personnel are the same, but have they made the right decision?
Opener, ‘Scars’, could be from the latest Depeche Mode album in its determination operate at the highest point of tension without unleashing a kick-snare drum rhythm. Noise clouds bubble in the speakers and swell with the volume control of a guitar. Synth notes tremble from the keyboard like ethereal melodies filtered through a flanger. The Joy Division influence is also apparent in the vocal projection of Stephane Azam. ‘There Is No Me’ is the complete opposite. A chugging bassline and two-beat drum pattern show the way for Azam to insert his baritone vocal lines. “Keep everything inside and leave it all behind,” he laments in a permanent state of rumination. The chorus needs to remove the knot in your chest, but it tightens it. A change of key, a double-tracked harmony, a switch to a belting vocal – all these are available, and the band choose none of them.
‘Grinding’ will make you wonder where you’ve heard this before, and the answer is Paradise Lost’s era as an electronic rock band, especially their 1999 Host album. There’s nothing that imitates that record, but the tone and atmosphere are the same. Here, a vigorous yet clean drumbeat, and layers of celestial keyboard effects combine with abstract post-punk guitar shapes. “I’m falling apart / In the void of my heart / Blessing the darkness growing in me,” laments Azam. The chorus is better than the previous track, but it lacks any kind of anthemic urgency. Only at track four do they reveal a harder edge to their music with a Nine Inch Nails aggression. The electric guitars are in your face until the blatant borrowing from the bridge of ‘March of the Pigs’ at 01:07. You can hear wasps buzzing in the distance as the single bass drum counts the tension in perfect metronome time. Unpredictability is the best thing about this song. The thumping drums resume and avoid the cliché of a half-timing chorus. Azam continues his anguish at the microphone by digging deep into the lowest range of his voice.
Any rock band willing to strip everything back to a drumbeat and voice to carry the verses is in dangerous territory. Yet Your Inland Empire show in ‘Silver Knife’ that they have the tools to create a tense atmosphere with the bare minimum. Again, the chorus lets them down. The deadpan vocal style needs an extra dimension to be memorable. Azam seems to recognise this at the end, but it’s too late to deliver the full intensity of his head voice. That’s the frustrating thing about this record: there’s a lot to discover, yet the peaks are in scarce supply. A spirited tempo of angst-ridden vocal snarls and trancey synths guide them through ‘Undone’. This time they demarcate the chorus with syncopated guitar punches – it’s a clever move. Listen to bassist, Marc Strebler, slide between his root notes in a sludgy amp tone. Compare this with the predecessor song, and it demonstrates the strengths and weaknesses of the album. Your Inland Empire know what they want and how it should sound but making that a reality is the most difficult part of the job.
It might explain why these metal veterans find it easier to build the groove on drop-tuned guitars. ‘Venom’ is the first song to cast off the shackles and pivot towards industrial metal. The elongated screams of the chorus are a match for Japanese artist, Yoshiko Ohara. It’s tempting to halt the listening experience and play it again before moving on to the next track. And one thing this album has in its favour is the thrill of a high tempo. The Frenchmen see no need to give you a breather at any point, yet nothing is too overwhelming or tedious to the point of repetition. They show in ‘Sulfur’ that switching vocal styles for the chorus is something that comes easy to them when they want to employ this technique. Dragging it out beyond five minutes is less impressive.
There’s no doubt that Your Inland Empire have found a fertile plain to create new music. Let’s be clear: you’ll find some real gems here. A magnificent groove metal riff in ‘Chemicals’ comes to close to producing a pitch-shifter effect in its low range impact. This is how you anchor a song around a hook. When was the last time you whipped out the air guitar for an LP dominated by synths? Close your eyes and this could make the last Tesseract album. Likewise, the Depeche Mode worship in closing track, ‘I’ll Be Your Night’, is shameless and thrilling at the same time. Listen to the rock beat and synth bass groove in symmetrical formation as Azam declares, “Even in the deepest water / And even in the dirt / I will always be your night.”
Your Inland Empire are right to pursue new ventures with a new identity, but you wonder if the next album will be the one where everything fits into place.
JVB
Verdict
Release Date: 14/11/2025
Record Label: Season of Mist
Standout tracks: Edge of Perfection; Venom; Chemicals
Suggested Further Listening: Paradise Lost – Host (1999), Theatre of Tragedy – Assembly (2002), Depeche Mode – The Delta Machine (2013)