"Woman is the future of man" sang Jean Ferrat... This is the credo chosen by Jirfiya: to put the spotlight on women in their new album. If the honour is given to the female gender in "W" to the point of drawing a temple for her on the cover, the band doesn't fall into a blind fanaticism. It salutes the commitment and the struggle of women to have their rights recognised as much as it underlines certain shortcomings because she is also a human being with her qualities and her defects.
For a long time now, Jérôme, in the late Born From Lie and now in Jirfiya, has made a point of giving meaning to his work. It must be said that there is no shortage of subjects at the moment, from the situation of women in Iran or Afghanistan, to the right to abortion, which has been undermined in several countries, to feminicide... the source is unfortunately almost inexhaustible. Ingrid is the interpreter of these sometimes tragic events and it takes strength not to be overwhelmed by emotions and to find the right way to convey the messages. Ingrid comes through with flying colours and is even making progress. Her vocal palette, often compared to Anneke Van Giesbergen, is gaining in contrast, highlighted by a musicality that is gaining in density.
The album contains five original tracks and three rereadings of tracks from the last two Born From Lie albums. The album opens with a new song, 'Asylum', which is nine minutes long. The band's progressive elements are more assertively integrated into this composition. The ambivalence is well marked between brutal passages and calmer breaks to testify to the madness that reigns in this asylum. The contribution of strings and brass (trumpet) contributes to this gain in density and emotion (the complaints of the violin and cello are opposed to a rather mutinous trumpet in a schizophrenic way). Ingrid lives each song and character, especially in the contrasting 'The Girl With The Perfect Face' which evokes the rise and fall of actress Linda Darnell.
The production is also better in this 'W'. It brings the heavy rhythmic sound to the fore while maintaining a nice balance between the instruments. Jérôme growls less, which allows him to concentrate on the guitar work and on the overall musical writing. This results in mastered compositions where the ideas are fluid, especially on the long tracks ('The Factory', 'Asylum'). The re-readings of the old Born From Lie tracks ('Far Away From Here', 'And Endless Journey' and 'The Path Of Hate') seen under a more feminine prism undeniably bring a fresh look.
"W" is a very nice album in which Jirfiya goes even further than in the previous albums: an interpretation that is becoming more refined, integration of new instruments (strings), balance found between long songs that allow more expressivity and the rather short ones where the melody is at the heart, very good guitar soli. All these qualities reinforce a little more all the good that we thought of Jirfiya which finds its signature allowing it to leave the lot of the numerous French metal productions.