Over four years since The Box’s last album “Black Dog There”, the band returns in 2009 with a brand new album and sung completely in French. The result is a album is called D'Apres Le Horla De Maupassant. The songs are looser this time around adding even more of a progressive rock presence is noted within the longer tracks.
While I don’t understand French, I do appreciate the talent everyone is. So I will think of the vocals as an instrument that guides along the course o the album. Instrumentation wise, I would have to say that “Incubus” (9:13) is the most interesting song that I’ve heard in a long while.
The longest track on the album is “Mont Saint-Michel” (10:56). From the three albums I have from them, I think this is one of their longest track, ever. This is also a highlight of the album and a great representation of where The Box is at this point in their career.
Because of the French lyrics, I find myself drifting off. Not condemning the vocals but I would have rather of heard an instrumental album. It should be noted that the vocals are not bad, just hard to understand for the non French.
In closing, this is an album that if you have patience, will be happy it’s in your collection. This falls under a “buyer be ware”, only because it’s not fully accessible as their last album. This gets a strong recommendation. So do yourself a favor and head over to their website or their MySpace page for samples to hear for yourself.
Reviewed by Ron Fuchs on September 23rd, 2010
