CD Reviews

Principe Valiente - Barricades

March 2022

Metropolis Records

Four years after the acclaimed album Oceans, the Swedish post punksters Principe Valiente are back with a new album. "Barricades" in March 2022.

It's one of those unique moments where you make the decision to really live your life, to breathe and the air fills your lungs with pure oxygen, to walk in a forest while the sun is still warm and return at night guided by the star lights, seeing in front of you the most beautiful view, the one you haven't noticed for so long because you are lost in your thoughts, what will happen in the future what did the past leave in the present? But there is always a light within you that when you allow it to come out of the darkness then you will have touched happiness.

You will return to the darkness again but you will have touched the light and you will no longer be afraid, you will just walk in it, you will be elusive and you will live in a world full of injustice, wars and disasters. So with these true words I want to describe what I felt listening to the new album of Principe Valiente and I can say that I was taken away and every note caught me as it traveled me to a world with diverse emotions.

Stockholm based Principe Valiente formed back in 2007 with their sound being a blend of strong post-punk elements refined with shoegaze style, and consists of Fernando Honorato, (vocals, electric bass, keyboards & piano), Jimmy Ottosson (guitars & pads/programming), Rebecka Johansson (keyboards & backing vocals) and Joakim Janthe (drums).

So let's start with the first song of the album "Barricades", where we have a lot of 80s elements from the keyboards to the new wave guitars and the bittersweet vocals of Fernando Honorato. I move on to the second song of the album and this is "So Much More". Here we hear a more uplifting rhythm, guitars and drums have a post-punk atmosphere and feels like something good has happened behind the history of this song, whithout knowing what really happened, since it is not clear. Next comes "Porcelain". You can see the corresponding video below and a very nice remix made by Ash Code in collaboration. A porcelain is as fragile as love, which can lead to separation and separation leads to loneliness and so it is within us, as if something was breaking and being buried in the deep ocean. it reminded me a bit of the Pixies song "Where Is My Mind", in it's introduction mainly, an excellent interpretation with a dose of melancholy and bitterness.

On the song "I Am You" the bass and guitar play the biggest role. It starts dynamically and maintains a dark gothic atmosphere with the heaviest and most emotional vocals, with drums and keys completing the whole song, I think this song has already become one of my favorites after playing it on repeat 5 times, and I brought to my mind other big bands of the gothic scene that I respect.

So after you have entered the gothic atmosphere, the next song, "Tears In Different Colors", it completely changes the scenery with more 80s retro synth aesthetic, while in "Never Change", the interpretation and the sound has a more Interpol approach, which makes it even more tempting to listen to this album, especially if you also like the New York based indie, post-punkers. The 8th song "Beating Of Your Heart" seems to be a more of a dream pop song with a romantic tone on the vocals. In the last song "This Buried Love" I could say that I listen to elements of The Sound and The Chameleons (UK) or even a more rock version from the songs of the '70s.

I don't know if I liked the first album ''Oceans'' more or less compared to "Barricades". They are, definitely, different and equally good on the production and their structure. I have to leave you now and go listen to ''I Αm Υou'' again!

 

Info:

https://www.facebook.com/principevalienteofficial

http://www.principevaliente.com

http://principevaliente.bandcamp.com

https://www.instagram.com/principevalienteofficial/