Of all the reissues that I quite recently received by Peaceville Records, and believe me when I say that they were plentiful indeed, the one that I was really looking forward to listen to "De Lumiere Et D'Obscurite" - the second full length release by the French Dark Ambient/Neo-classical quintet Dark Sanctuary. What is really strange about the above comment is the fact that I didn't even know of the band's existence prior to receiving their album, but the reason behind my excitement was the knowledge of heavy influences of Dead Can Dance on the band's music – the former being an Australian Duo whose New Age era made a very huge impression on me during my high school years.

Dark Sanctuary's music is described as Dark Ambient/Neo-classical and both aspects of this description are completely justified based on what the thirteen compositions that are featured in "De Lumiere Et D'Obscurite" have to offer. The influence of Goth music can be felt throughout the album, and even though I have nothing against this rather pessimistic in terms of outlook genre, I was quite relieved to discover that the neo-classical elements were much more dominant in comparison. What one should expect to find in this seventy four minute release, then, is an array of elongated emotionally draining compositions which are 'embroidered' by numerous and beautifully performed violin, organ and string instruments...impressed?

The only thing that I believe could potentially become 'threatening' towards the album's success in drawing the attention of a wider audience would be the band's choice to write lyrics in their native language, i.e. French. The threat has been avoided in my opinion, though, simply due to the unique nature of Marquise Ermia's vocals, which tend to operate more like an additional instrument rather than a dominant voice and in so doing, it ends up complimenting rather than leading each composition towards the desired result.

Generally speaking, I found the experience of listening to this album to be quite relaxing and pleasant throughout, especially when confronting the album's lengthiest and simplest in nature compositions, such as "De Lumiere Et d'Onscurite", "Le Paradis Noir","La Chute de L'Angle" and "Funerailles" - all possible candidates for an emotionally charged music soundtrack. Personally speaking, I felt almost immediately in love with the colourfully depressing melodies of "Reve Mortuaire", the short but addictive piano tunes of "Interludia", the Gaelic marching theme of "Ordre Et Decadence" and the haunting organ tunes of "Que Mon Dernier Soupir m'Emporte" - compositions that I could enjoy under any circumstances.

Simplicity and passion are two of the main attributes that characterise "De Lumiere Et D'Obscurite", and even though there were a couple of occasions where I felt that there could be some room for improvement in terms of compositional arrangements, I did not manage to detect any major faults capable of convincing me not to invest in this release. This album can operate both as background music or as the vehicle that will help you search for important answers within you - the choice as to what you will gain from it is, as always, yours.

****

Review by John Stefanis