Fin De Siècle (studio album) by The Divine Comedy

"Fin de Siecle" was the last studio album that The Divine Comedy recorded for the label Setanta Records. Even though it features two of Neil Hannon's must catchy and commercial songs "Generarion Sex" and "The National Express "it is generally a rather dark and ambitious album. Big orchestra arrangements characterize a great part of the songs, which easily gives the album an overall feel of over-production. Even the album title suggests that this is not to be taken too lightly - I wonder how it is pronounced?

Personally, I prefer Neil Hannon's music when it is more simple, so my favorites are the aforementioned singles, along with "The Certainty of Chance", which both has a catchy melody and a compelling beat, and which therefore is not burdened to the same degree by the heavy arrangements which characterizes the majority of the album's tracks. "The Certainty of Chance" is perhaps the most durable track on the album.

Some tracks are for me almost impossible to get through: Especially the excessive "Eric the Garden", but also songs like "Sweden" and "Here Comes the Flood" are ones I usually skip.

National Express is a song of beauty! Pretty fantastic album overall. Forgot about it for song and may deserve a proper review in future. Listen to it!