Review

By Liam Hughes | 03/07/2026

Seven years is a long time in electronic music. Long enough for trends to rise and collapse, for hyperpop to explode and splinter, and for the maximalist sheen of EDM to find new life in indie circles. On Victory, French producer Hugo Leclercq – better known as Madeon – returns sounding less interested in nostalgia than in blowing the doors off his own catalogue. Where Good Faith basked in warmth and optimism, Victory thrives on tension. It's louder, darker and infinitely more chaotic, fusing new rave, electropop and electro-punk into a collection of towering festival-ready anthems that rarely pauses to catch its breath. The result is Madeon's most immediate and exhilarating record to date. From the opening moments of Hi!, the album launches at full throttle. Distorted synths collide with crunching guitars, explosive percussion and towering choruses that feel engineered for thousands of voices rather than headphones. It's a bold statement of intent, one that rarely loses momentum across its brisk runtime. The production is the obvious star. Every track feels meticulously sculpted despite embracing a sense of beautiful overload. At times the mix veers into muddy territory, with layers of distortion threatening to overwhelm the melodies beneath. Yet rather than detract from the experience, that controlled chaos becomes part of Victory's identity, making its biggest emotional pay-offs land even harder. Madeon also sounds more confident than ever as a vocalist, using his own voice as another instrument woven seamlessly into the dense electronic framework. Highlights arrive thick and fast: the euphoric Dancing On Your Grave offers a rare emotional breather, while Somebody Else delivers one of the album's most affecting hooks. Fire Away, featuring the effortlessly commanding Slayyyter, is a standout, transforming heartbreak into an industrial-strength pop anthem, while Red Jacket closes the album's strongest run with irresistible momentum. If there's a criticism to be made, it's that the album's relentless pace occasionally works against it. A handful of tracks blur together stylistically, and the closing stretch plays things slightly safer after such an explosive first half. Even so, there are remarkably few genuine missteps, with only Super Platinum and Enjoy struggling to reach the same dizzying heights. Clocking in at exactly the right length, Victory knows when to leave the party. It's a thrilling, larger-than-life return that embraces maximalism without collapsing under its own weight. In an era where electronic pop continues to chase bigger, brighter and louder ideas, Madeon has delivered one of 2026's most exhilarating statements.