VNV Nation, which stands for Victory Not Vengeance, is an industrial music group from London which combines elements of electronic body music (EBM) and synthpop into what they call futurepop. The members are Ronan Harris and Mark Jackson.
The group's first album, Advance and Follow, was released in 1995. This was a mixture of danceable synthesizer melodies and harsh electronic beats firmly in the tradition of middle-era EBM, supplemented with elements of orchestral music. Their next release, 1998's Praise the Fallen, continued largely in this vein, and they began to enjoy a larger degree of commercial success.
1999's Empires was their breakthrough album, gaining them widespread commercial success (topping the German DAC charts for seven weeks) and almost single-handedly spawning a genre of similar artists. While in the vein of their previous two works, Empires expanded the bombastic synthesizer lines and incorporated tighter song organization with verses and catchy choruses. Furthermore, the harsher 'sheet metal instrumentals' of albums like Praise The Fallen were largely gone, and the music as a whole was far more complex.
Their 2002 album, Futureperfect, represented a departure in many ways, largely away from EBM and towards synthpop, even incorporating some elements of trance. Furthermore, many neoclassical instrumental pieces were included in the album. This shift caused their mainstream popularity to increase still further, but alienated some of their fans who preferred their earlier harsher and darker sound, leading to a somewhat weakened reputation in the "underground" music community. Nonetheless, they embarked on several highly successful world tours in 2002 and 2003, including to the United States, where this genre of music does not normally enjoy much commercial success.
Their latest album, Matter + Form, is available on vinyl and cd.
Full-length albums and EPs
Body Pulse of print and extremely rare (1990)
Strength of Youth of print and extremely rare (1990)
Advance and Follow of print (1995)
Praise the Fallen (1998)
Solitary EP (1998)
Empires (1999)
Standing / Burning Empires of print, 2 CD set consisting of the Standing single and an EP featuring remixes of songs from Empires (2000)
Advance and Follow (v2) of print, remastered and extended (2001)
Futureperfect (2002)
Matter + Form (2005)
Singles
Darkangel (1999)
Standing (2000)
Genesis regular versions, Genesis.1 and Genesis.2; and two promotional versions, Genesis.0 and the Radio Edition (2001)
Beloved regular versions, Beloved.1 and Beloved.2; a vinyl-only release of trance remixes called Beloved.3; and a promo version, Beloved.0 (2002)
Honour 2003 (2003)
Chrome (internet-released single from Matter + Form, 2005)
Other
Cold (Rated 'R' mix by MiG-29) [http://www.vnvnation.com/contents/download/cold_(rated_r_mix_by_mig-29).mp3 web-only download track ] (2001)
Pastperfect DVD Promo Version (2003) away during the 2003 Pastperfect "release" tour
Pastperfect DVD (2004)
Official Site
German Fan Site
Metropolis Records - current label (USA)
Anachron Sounds - current label (Europe)
MySpace (includes music samples)
History
The group's first album, Advance and Follow, was released in 1995. This was a mixture of danceable synthesizer melodies and harsh electronic beats firmly in the tradition of middle-era EBM, supplemented with elements of orchestral music. Their next release, 1998's Praise the Fallen, continued largely in this vein, and they began to enjoy a larger degree of commercial success.
1999's Empires was their breakthrough album, gaining them widespread commercial success (topping the German DAC charts for seven weeks) and almost single-handedly spawning a genre of similar artists. While in the vein of their previous two works, Empires expanded the bombastic synthesizer lines and incorporated tighter song organization with verses and catchy choruses. Furthermore, the harsher 'sheet metal instrumentals' of albums like Praise The Fallen were largely gone, and the music as a whole was far more complex.
Their 2002 album, Futureperfect, represented a departure in many ways, largely away from EBM and towards synthpop, even incorporating some elements of trance. Furthermore, many neoclassical instrumental pieces were included in the album. This shift caused their mainstream popularity to increase still further, but alienated some of their fans who preferred their earlier harsher and darker sound, leading to a somewhat weakened reputation in the "underground" music community. Nonetheless, they embarked on several highly successful world tours in 2002 and 2003, including to the United States, where this genre of music does not normally enjoy much commercial success.
Their latest album, Matter + Form, is available on vinyl and cd.