Pre-Order: Se Leroy Meurt - Hier Pour Toujours [LP]

Two years after their debut on Berlin-based Mannequin Records, Parisian duo Leroy SE Meurt returns with their second full-length album, Hier Pour Toujours. Far from any sense of nostalgia, this record offers no illusion of hope-history repeats itself, the future looks bleak, and their brand of electronic punk is the perfect soundtrack to it all. Drum machines dictate the pace while synths saturate the space, looping sequences grind relentlessly, and vocals lead this machine orchestra straight into the heart of the chaos. Drawing from their roots, Leroy SE Meurt pushes their fierce electronics further than ever-experimenting with bold slogans, spoken passages, and powerful sing-along choruses. The album opens with Pas Ma Croix, a commanding anthem built for the stage. It flows into Du Plafond à La Terre, driven by a monstrous electro beat and bassline, flirting with emotional vulnerability in it's chorus before exploding into a synth solo. Alevlere Karsi once again taps into the duo's EBM-meets-Turkish vocals signature style, hitting the mark with dancefloor precision. The title track, Hier Pour Toujours, closes side A with a more intimate, drumless moment-solemn but no less intense. That brief calm is shattered by Déviance, marking the return of guitars and an eruptive chorus brimming with raw energy. From there, the album launches into the furious Révolte Ardente, with it's syncopated rhythm and vocals drenched in distortion, and continues with Pro Déclin, a stripped-down rhythmic skeleton carrying anti-growth mantras straight to the point. In a world clouded by confusion, the most direct messages often land the hardest. For a change of scenery, Fütürsüz dives into John Carpenter-esque territory-no drums, eerie night-streaked synths, and, for the first time in the band's history, nearly clean vocals.