Dernière Volonté

Derni?re Volont? (French for 'last will" or "last wish" before execution) is a project of French musician Geoffroy D. (assisted by Pierre Pi). Earlier work is seen as martial industrial, dark ambient or martial ambient, emphasising atmosphere, rhythm, and historical samples, rather than vocals and melody. Recent work, from Les Blessures de L'ombre (2003), is typically seen as military pop, with verse-chorus song structures and pop melodies.

Derni?re Volont? is controversial for its considerable use of fascist imagery, style, and voice samples, and of themes from European fascism and the Second World war. The first album Ob?ir Et Mourir (To Obey and Die, 1998 cassette, remastered and re-released in 2005 as CD), includes the tracks Le Travail Rend Libre (=Arbeit Macht Frei, the slogan on the gates of Auschwitz), La Force Par La Joie (=Strength Through Joy = Kraft durch Freude, the mass leisure organisation of the Nazi Party), Roma 39 Axe II (Rome 1939 Axis II) and A. Speer (Albert Speer, Hitlers's architect, and later Reich Minister for Armaments and War Production.

Devant Le Miroir (2006) quotes the French writer Pierre Drieu La Rochelle. Anti-communist, anti-capitalist and anti-democratic, Drieu La Rochelle was initially an advocate of a 'European' right, and European federalism (excluding the Soviet Union). During the 1930's he moved closer to German Nazism, and in the end supported the German occupation of northern France. Under the pro-German Vichy government, he was director of the collaborationist literary magazine Nouvelle Revue Fran?aise. After the Allied invasion of France, facing a trial for collaboration, he went into hiding, and committed suicide in March 1945. (Drieu La Rochelle is one of several pre-war fascist thinkers popular among neo-fascist groups in Europe, and more recently in parts of the neofolk and martial industrial scenes).

For the first logo of Derni?re Volont?, Geoffroy D. used the emblem of the 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division G?tz von Berlichingen - the iron hand of the late-mediaeval knight Gottfried G?tz von Berlichingen (1480-1562). (The Division was formed in France in 1943, from units which had fought in the Balkans, and included many Romanians. Its active combat life was spent in retreat from Allied forces, finally surrendering in southern Germany in May 1945). The band logo was later replaced by an uncontroversial monogram.

In 2001, Derni?re Volont? contributed a track (Ma Foi Est Mon Combat) to the CD Codreanu: Eine Erinnerung an den Kampf (Codreanu: A memory of the struggle). The German-titled CD was released in Italy by the label Oktag?n, in honour of the Romanian fascist Corneliu Zelea Codreanu, founder of the Legion of the Archangel Michael, later known as the Iron Guard. (The CD artwork features the Archangel Michael). The Iron Guard was anti-semitic, ultra-religious and ultra-nationalist: Codreanu was killed in police custody in 1938, and in revenge his supporters assassinated prime Minister Calinescu. (Codreanu also serves as an inspiration, for neofascist groups and for some neofolk and martial artists).

Geoffroy D. has co-operated with the similarly controversial project Der Blutharsch (Albin Julius, Austria). Much of his work is released on Julius' Hau Ruck label, and he is a guest on Der Blutharsch' Time is Thee Enemy.

In April 2007, protests against the appearance of Derni?re Volont? led to cancellation of the 'Black Easter Festival' at the Zwischenfall venue in Bochum, in the Ruhr area of Germany. The festival organisers moved it to a town near the Dutch border, but organiser Marcus Dehnke of krankpop was suspended from his job, as a result of the publicity. He was employed as a youth worker for a government-funded project, to counter right-wing extremism among fans of the football club Schalke '04. This was the second time Zwischenfall had cancelled an event co-organised by Dehnke, an earlier release party for neofolk project Ostara (formerly Strength through Joy), was cancelled in 2003 after similar protests.

The presence of Derni?re Volont? at the 2007 Wave Gotik Treffen in Leipzig also led to controversy. (Not for the first time, in 2000 the City of Leipzig banned the Von Thronstahl singer Josef Klumb because of right-wing connections, and there were related incidents in 2002). Left-wing demonstrators twice attacked WGT visitors (including military fans) near the concert venue in Connewitz. The Leipziger Volkszeitung (29 May 2007) reported two attacks, one on Saturday, and one during the afternoon of Sunday 28 May, hours before the Derni?re Volont? concert. Several people were injured, but police intervened rapidly. The concert itself (Derni?re Volont? were the last act of the 2007 WGT) had extra security, and police outside: there were no incidents.

Derni?re Volont? has a Myspace page at http://www.myspace.com/dernirevolont.