Sopor Aeternus gets….sexy?  On Les Fleurs du Mal Anna-Varney’s lyrical preoccupations shift toward gender, sexuality, and the inevitable disappointment therein.  Not all is dire gloom, however; Anna-Varney interjects righteous anger into the album’s theme and, strangely, also manages some of the most comical lines ever featured on a Sopor Aeternus record.  (”A Little Bar of Soap” finds Anna-Varney imagining herself as a bar of soap that slips over people’s “heinies,” which is a much more disturbing image than anything from Songs from the Inverted Womb.)

Musically, Les Fleurs du Mal follows the trajectory of La Chambre d’Echo, but with less of a focus on danceable tracks.  Les Fleurs du Mal tends to be slower and a bit darker, but doesn’t return to the emotional bleakness of Dead Lovers’ Sarabande.  One interesting addition to Sopor Aeternus’s usual funereal synths, tolling bells, and mournful strings is the inclusion of a choir on some songs; the added bombast works well with the neo-classical arrangements on Les Fleurs du Mal.

Aside from fancy packaging, the deluxe boxset version of Les Fleurs du Mal features a manga-style book that casts Anna-Varney as a mysterious heroine who encounters the world in all its bigotry and self-deceit.  Each song on the album has its own chapter, which adds a further level of complexity to the album’s overarching concept.  It is very well executed, but due to the high price tag casual fans might want to wait for the regular CD pressing.

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