Enverxis
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Oct 19, 2004
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[size=large]UneXpect - In A Flesh Aquarium[/size]
UneXpect are a French Canadian Extreme Progressive Metal band; I have been aware of them for a while and all year I have been eagerly awaiting the release of this album, their demo CD Utopia showed a spark of what could be entirely something else through it's typical demo-like production, 7 years later and their debut is finally complete!
I have to say, forget pretty much any band at the moment that you think is Progressive or Avantegarde for a moment and check this out. This record is an absolutely unique and uncompromising effort of overwhelming magnitude!
The band has a fairly atypical lineup for a band in the realm of Progressive or Avantegarde Metal; 2 guitarists/vocalists, a bassist, keyboardist, drummer, violinist and a female vocalist. However each musician in the band is a quite adept with their weapon of choice (perhaps an understatement for some of them, such as bassist "ChaotH" who brandishes a custom-made 9-stringed bass guitar (!!), and drummer "Landryx" who flows seamlessly through various styles of drumming throughout the ever-constant chopping and changing music).
It is immimently obvious to me that the music composed for this album has been refined and perfected over a fair amount of time, because everything here just fits perfectly with everything else, there are many, many layers to the sound. You can clearly notice the well-developed harmonic constructions and ultra complex arrangements, working on chromatic and disonant sounds.
The guitar riffing used by "Syriak" and "Artagoth" is very Thrashy-sounding while never sounding sloppy or too tight, the riffing is very technical however very chaotic and unorthodox. The bass guitar follows intricate patterns and compliments the guitar riffs and drumming perfectly, also while standing out in the music unlike most bass guitars in metal which are "beneath" the sound, the bass guitar here is FORWARD and right there infront of your eyes.
The keyboard work is fantastic. "ExoD" combines your usual pianismic playing with the synth work using a wide array of different sounds from the classical strings and strange voices to more modern electronic sounds and samples, adding a bit of Techno and whatnot in there as well. Violinist "Le Bateleur" is very present in the music as well and alot of the time uses deliberately out-of-tune playing to fit the rather melancholic and carnival sound of the band, I believe he uses a distortion pedal as well.
The drumming is amazing and is a blend of many styles but most noticably Death Metal, Jazz/Fusion and Prog Metal beats.
Vocal duties are shared between the guitarists and the female vocalist "Leìlindel" who has a very unique style and always provides the right style and emotion for the part of the song in which she sings, not your usual bored female operatic singer as per alot of bands that use a female vocalist, at time she wails, at times she shivers at times she sounds desperate!
One of the many unique aspects about UneXpect is the way they use the vocals, instead of having a main vocalist all vocalists are used equally and they are not used "consistently" sometimes all vocalists will sing the same line, sometimes they will sing at the same time but different lines, sometimes they will sing a verse each or even a few words each in a sentence, sometimes they will sound like a choir, sometimes narrative!
Unlike alot of Progressive acts, where the music goes off in all sorts of directions and musicians show off with flashy improvisation, UneXpect move together as one. The entire sound "improvises" instead of a sole instrument. All the instruments (and vocals) are linked and intertwined with each other, and with the incredibly odd time signatures, constant progression, stopping and starting all over the place everything flows nicely and everything compliments everything else. There is sometimes pausing in the rhythmic section to give room for the vocals, keyboards or violin to finish off their part.
The chaotic song structures are at such high level that is something I’ve never heard before. You have also the whole spectre of tempos, from very slow and brooding to fast blast-beats over 200 beats per minute!
The general sound of the music sounds like a very bizarre carnival, the band implements elements from various musical styles such as Progressive Rock and Metal, Jazz, Fusion, technical Death Metal, Symphonic and Melodic Black Metal, Darkwave, Ambient, Gypsy music, Funk, middle-eastern music, Classical music, Videogame music, Soundtracks and Circus music!
The songs themselves I couldn't really find the words to describe but without giving too much away I shall quote this from a quite recent review on the album
Quote:
This album must be listened to as an album, there are no standout tracks. This music demands a lot from the listener. It’s not easy to get the whole picture and many people will not like this because of the lack of a catchy chorus, but I certainly just cannot pull myself away from it. It is by far the best album in a few years as far as Progressive and Avantegarde movements in music are concerned IMHO.
The catch is however that it is not for everyone, and it could take alot of time to digest, for many progressive music fans would be completely alienated by this sound as it is just so different!
So for anyone who read this "review" and thinks that this might be worth checking out, I hope you like this as much as I do!!
Oh yeah, last of all, the production and sound quality is fantastic
UneXpect are a French Canadian Extreme Progressive Metal band; I have been aware of them for a while and all year I have been eagerly awaiting the release of this album, their demo CD Utopia showed a spark of what could be entirely something else through it's typical demo-like production, 7 years later and their debut is finally complete!
I have to say, forget pretty much any band at the moment that you think is Progressive or Avantegarde for a moment and check this out. This record is an absolutely unique and uncompromising effort of overwhelming magnitude!
The band has a fairly atypical lineup for a band in the realm of Progressive or Avantegarde Metal; 2 guitarists/vocalists, a bassist, keyboardist, drummer, violinist and a female vocalist. However each musician in the band is a quite adept with their weapon of choice (perhaps an understatement for some of them, such as bassist "ChaotH" who brandishes a custom-made 9-stringed bass guitar (!!), and drummer "Landryx" who flows seamlessly through various styles of drumming throughout the ever-constant chopping and changing music).
It is immimently obvious to me that the music composed for this album has been refined and perfected over a fair amount of time, because everything here just fits perfectly with everything else, there are many, many layers to the sound. You can clearly notice the well-developed harmonic constructions and ultra complex arrangements, working on chromatic and disonant sounds.
The guitar riffing used by "Syriak" and "Artagoth" is very Thrashy-sounding while never sounding sloppy or too tight, the riffing is very technical however very chaotic and unorthodox. The bass guitar follows intricate patterns and compliments the guitar riffs and drumming perfectly, also while standing out in the music unlike most bass guitars in metal which are "beneath" the sound, the bass guitar here is FORWARD and right there infront of your eyes.
The keyboard work is fantastic. "ExoD" combines your usual pianismic playing with the synth work using a wide array of different sounds from the classical strings and strange voices to more modern electronic sounds and samples, adding a bit of Techno and whatnot in there as well. Violinist "Le Bateleur" is very present in the music as well and alot of the time uses deliberately out-of-tune playing to fit the rather melancholic and carnival sound of the band, I believe he uses a distortion pedal as well.
The drumming is amazing and is a blend of many styles but most noticably Death Metal, Jazz/Fusion and Prog Metal beats.
Vocal duties are shared between the guitarists and the female vocalist "Leìlindel" who has a very unique style and always provides the right style and emotion for the part of the song in which she sings, not your usual bored female operatic singer as per alot of bands that use a female vocalist, at time she wails, at times she shivers at times she sounds desperate!
One of the many unique aspects about UneXpect is the way they use the vocals, instead of having a main vocalist all vocalists are used equally and they are not used "consistently" sometimes all vocalists will sing the same line, sometimes they will sing at the same time but different lines, sometimes they will sing a verse each or even a few words each in a sentence, sometimes they will sound like a choir, sometimes narrative!
Unlike alot of Progressive acts, where the music goes off in all sorts of directions and musicians show off with flashy improvisation, UneXpect move together as one. The entire sound "improvises" instead of a sole instrument. All the instruments (and vocals) are linked and intertwined with each other, and with the incredibly odd time signatures, constant progression, stopping and starting all over the place everything flows nicely and everything compliments everything else. There is sometimes pausing in the rhythmic section to give room for the vocals, keyboards or violin to finish off their part.
The chaotic song structures are at such high level that is something I’ve never heard before. You have also the whole spectre of tempos, from very slow and brooding to fast blast-beats over 200 beats per minute!
The general sound of the music sounds like a very bizarre carnival, the band implements elements from various musical styles such as Progressive Rock and Metal, Jazz, Fusion, technical Death Metal, Symphonic and Melodic Black Metal, Darkwave, Ambient, Gypsy music, Funk, middle-eastern music, Classical music, Videogame music, Soundtracks and Circus music!
The songs themselves I couldn't really find the words to describe but without giving too much away I shall quote this from a quite recent review on the album
Quote:
| The fact that the band sounds always tight, despite the complexity and chaotic-ness of the music, is for sure worthy of praise. The music has always an “improvisation” feeling, almost like a live Jazz band. The continuous Schizophrenic assault starts with “Chromatic Chimera” a maelstrom of breaks and incredible guitar chops. “Feasting Fools” is a little more straight-forward, fast and extreme song with a powerful edge. “Desert Urbania” shows a more funky side, the easier song to get into, but still a masterful track. “Summoning Scenes” shows a more melodic death metal side with both guitars harmonizing on fast tremolo picking riffs. “Megalomaniac Trees” comes after a weird Devil Doll like ambient track. It’s a great song very similar to “We_Invader” ones. The Shiver is a magnum three part opus that showcases all the styles of the band, as the last marvelous track: “Psychic Jugglers”. This is an album that goes far away from the archetypical musical esthetics for most people. This is a record to listen carefully and to analize with musical ear. It has enough material to work on it for a couple of years. Mindblowing. |
This album must be listened to as an album, there are no standout tracks. This music demands a lot from the listener. It’s not easy to get the whole picture and many people will not like this because of the lack of a catchy chorus, but I certainly just cannot pull myself away from it. It is by far the best album in a few years as far as Progressive and Avantegarde movements in music are concerned IMHO.
The catch is however that it is not for everyone, and it could take alot of time to digest, for many progressive music fans would be completely alienated by this sound as it is just so different!
So for anyone who read this "review" and thinks that this might be worth checking out, I hope you like this as much as I do!!
Oh yeah, last of all, the production and sound quality is fantastic
