Jul I'm Sorry

XIV Dark Centuries are one of those bands that I have known of since 2003 or so, however, for whatever reason, I always delayed in checking out their material until this little EP came out and, needless to say, after hearing it, I was kicking myself for not checking out the debut album (… Den Ahnen Zum Grusse …) sooner; Jul is definitely a pristine and perfect starting point for a newcomer to XIV Dark Centuries since, for one, it's rather easy to sit down and listen to it anytime since it's about 17 minutes long (which, umm, could not be said of Equilibrium's 80-minute Sagas beast, for example) and, besides that, it captures everything the band is about.

Americana II, otherwise billed as AmerIIcana, is a sequel to Roch Voisine's album from the previous year, Americana (2008), a full-length collection of American country standards that was recorded in Nashville. Sung mostly in English with a few French-language versions appended as bonus tracks, Americana was a big hit in France, where it reached number three on the albums chart. Despite its success, it wasn't a great album. It features standards like "Ring of Fire" and "Crazy" that have been covered a million times over, and worse, the album was produced in a very plain country-pop style without any edge whatsoever. Tellingly, the album wasn't as well received in Voisine's native Canada, where listeners are more accustomed to country music.