Mylene Farmer - Avant que l'ombre... (Limited Edition) (2005)

Avant que l'ombre... is the sixth studio album by Mylène Farmer, released on 4 April 2005. Mainly composed of acoustic ballads, this album produced five singles which were all top ten hits in France, including "Fuck Them All" and "L'amour n'est rien..."
The journalist Benoît Cachin considered that Avant que l'ombre... was less sophisticated than Farmer's previous albums. He said that among the subjects tackled are religion, literature, sexuality, a hope for a better life, a happy love, revolt, dream and self-mockery. Although he deemed the album "consistent and uniform", he added that it is confusing due to the "particularly abstruse" lyrics, including many puns and literary references unknown to the general public.
Some critics thought the album did not contain any big surprises: "Farmer's voice is still light, fragile, sometimes quavering" to better evoke emotion. The piano gives the tempo but the strings dominate to create "a labyrinthine atmosphere". Caroline Bee believes that the album is too similar to the previous ones and lacks innovation. The album is a "distressing repetition of her old hits" (Actu02). "Disappointing", with "ethereal chords", "songs stretched and similar" (Télé Star). "Her album is not revolutionary. (...) Certain chords are even fuddy-duddy. (...) A mixed success" (Télé 2 Semaines). "Nothing is very surprising nor really new. Always this voice on the wire, at the edge of the crack. Always this dark romanticism bathed in mystical, erotic, and morbid image more or less woolly" (Le Journal du dimanche).
According to Rolling Stone, this album has a "great sweetness" but "ultimately suffers from a major flaw: it is the sixth album of an artist from whom everyone expects too much". On the whole, the album was well received in the media, particularly by the French newspaper Le Monde which stated: "The singularity of the musical and thematic universe of Mylène Farmer, is not overturned, but refined. (...) The whole aims to a luminous power. (...) [In the lyrics], Mylène Farmer is calmer, almost beaming, melancholy with a smile". Voici qualified Avant que l'ombre... as an "intimate album" and underlined the "quality of the lyrics".
The album was rewarded with the title "Best Album of the Year" in 2005 at NRJ Music Awards.