Les Joyaux De La Princesse

If my memory doesn’t fail me there was a special recording sold only at the 2001 Portugal show. Later this special recording was released together with live-recordings in a very expensive box. I have neither of these two releases. The normal “Absinthe” split cd is from the same year and now it seems that the box has been rereleased on a normal cd for a normal price. The first 11 tracks seem to be older versions of the “Absinthe” tracks and then you get live recordings from the Portugal show. The music isn’t better than on the normal cd, but different versions make this cd a nice archival release.

It has been a long wait since “Blót” and even longer since “The Gospel…”, but here is new material of Michael Moynihan. It was recorded together with the well-known French industrial act LJDLP, who had much influence on the music. Therefor “Absinthe” doesn’t contain the orchestral bombast that we came to love Blood Axis for, but more minimal industrial and ambient with here and there Michael’s voice and sometimes a short moment of bombast. The lay-out and lyrics were found in the “musée de l’Absinthe” in Callé, France and are an hommage to liquor. However I find the lay-out nice and original, the music is a bit too LJDLP for me. Still quite nice, but I like Michael on his own better.