Review Summary: One of the most formidable masterworks from one of Rock In Opposition’s most notable outfits.
When renowned progressive rock and progressive metal musician Mikael Åkerfeldt from Opeth moved to describe why Univers Zero’s
Uzed was one of the records he procured when he paid a visit to Amoeba records in Los Angeles California for an episode of their running series “what’s in my bag”, he immediately remarked: “I don’t know how to describe this music”. He went on to characterise the band as a collective of “highly skilled musicians” and suggested that listening to this record was perfect for anyone who wants to take a break from listening to main-stream radio sludge. However, he did intently follow up that statement with a sardonic: “you’re going to die pretty much”. A statement that perhaps adequately captures the emotional impact listening to Univers Zero might have on those unaccustomed with this Belgian’s quartet exceedingly idiosyncratic take on 'progressive rock' and 'chamber music'.
Then again, we can more specifically characterise this obscure musical collective’s sound as avant-garde progressive rock, for Univers Zero has, throughout the band’s career pushed the boundaries of sonic experimentation within the domain of what can be broadly typified as: ‘progressive music’. The band’s unique playing styles, disparate array of influences and a line up as unorthodox as the instrumentation employed by those who may consider themselves constituents of this collective all contribute to their reputation as a being a prodigiously exotic yet renowned band amongst the initiated. Indeed Univers Zero is an outfit which, both through a stringent refusal to confirm to any aesthetic conventions and their aforementioned idiosyncrasies, can conjure up sonic experiences so deeply surreal that it can certainly, as Åkerfeldt notes, render one virtually incapable of “describing this music”. To suggest that language be a tool that can perfectly capture the essence of anything external to it, is pretentious at best and downright foolish at worst, an insight absolutely pertinent when it comes to the daunting task of describing what ‘Univers Zero’ sounds like. Not merely on Uzed, but also on any of their other musical projects. Nevertheless, I will do my very best to see this fool’s errant through, hopefully to a successful end. Yet, I can’t promise you that this review will answer more questions than it raises. Ultimately, Univers Zero is a band to be experienced through the art of listening, and I write this review mainly with the goal of ratifying this notion. All of this notwithstanding, what really is “this music”?
Well, to start, the band’s sound has to my knowledge often been characterised as ‘chamber rock’, a descriptor not altogether inadequate, yet in the end too simplistic. A more appropriate encapsulation of their sound might be ‘Rock In Opposition’, a known subgenre of avant-garde progressive rock alongside Zeuhl, a style which generally distinguishes itself in a myriad of ways from the comparably more well-known variety of progressive rock, mostly represented by the sounds produced by such outfits as King Crimson, Genesis, Rush, Pink Floyd et cetera. Itself, a form of interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary rock music, that melded the titular sounds of seventies rock with elements of western classical music and jazz, with the occasional folk influences sprinkled in. Avant-garde progressive rock on the other hand, is often described as focussing more on the juxtaposition and melding of the more unorthodox sides of classical music, mainly modern classical music, and jazz, with elements of fusion and avant-garde jazz. This generally implies a more exceptional range of instruments being employed, a more obvious and frequent use of dissonance, atonality, microtonality and counterpoint, alongside other, often highly complex and alienating harmonic and melodic phrases. Generally, a similar characterisation can be given of the compositional and rhythmical propensities of RIO artists, of which Univers Zero is without a doubt a prominent group, among others such as Present (a group formed by a former Univers Zero member), Henry Cow, Art Zoyd, and Thinking Plague. Strange time signature changes and oddly ramified rhythmical patterns, meandering, seemingly unstructured instrumental passages, uneasy and non-resolving progressions, sudden cacophonies, licentious displays of virtuosity juxtaposed with deceptive minimalism, earth-shattering crescendos and equally impactful musical downturns are all par for the course when delving into this unusual genre of music. Granted then, chamber rock isn’t all that illogical given that unlike Zeuhl, in RIO the (modern) classical influences are almost as dominant, if not more dominant than the rock influences at times, something certainly true for Univers Zero, a band whose line up is more akin to that of a strange chamber ensemble than a rock group. Moreover, the use of vocals is (almost) non-existent in RIO, something again perfectly applicable to Uzed, as the record provides us with a 43 minute voiceless musical journey (with the exception of a few-second long voice recording at the advent of the record’s bookend).
What sort of musical tools are then used to shape this album’s musical template? Well, allow me to enumerate: drums, synths, (bass) clarinet, soprano and alto sax, bass guitar, balafon (gourd-resonated xylophone), bowed, electric and acoustic guitar, cello, piano strings, violin. Oh, and lest I forget, tapes and whistles of course! Remember, I said ‘strange’ chamber ensemble. Nevertheless, a few interesting things must be noted here: this record is far more reliant upon electric instruments, in comparison to Univers Zero’s older, more acoustic releases, The reintroduction of not just the guitar as an instrument, but an electric guitar, gives the record, alongside the more apparent use of synthesizers, a sort of modern touch, which makes it distinct from the more medieval, acoustic sounds of records like
Ceux De Hors. Opening track ‘Présage’ initiates the record on a rather pastoral note with a minimalistic synth opening, before abruptly kicking things into high gear, with complex, syncopated drumming, growling electric guitar, clarinet/saxophone and violin playing of each other in a gleefully chaotic yet cohesive manner. Univers Zero immediately proves they are undisputed masters of building musical tension, with extended moments of minimalism, that contain an ominousness that hints at something more slowly building up to moments of increasingly cathartic release, as the music twists and turns numerously around the respective compositional peaks and valleys. Moments of unrelenting anxiousness are interspersed with moments of pure musical serenity, and as soon as you manage to gain a grip of the sonic mastery that is unfolding, Univers Zero performs totally unexpected musical transition, once again leaving the listener in a place of amazed confusion.
Generally, percussion, keys and bass form the musical backbone whilst strings, clarinet and saxophone cut right through this established musical current, creating an unnerving sense of tension and counterpoint. Yet Univers Zero isn’t shy about completely deconstructing the very musical themes introduced and slithering into a dark musical alleyway were bewildering, alienating and astounding musical intrigue await. Equally unwilling are the band to simply bombard the listener with inexorable streams of maximalist sonic rambunctiousness. Instead, there are moments of deceptively accommodating minimalism, which merely form the silence before the inevitable storm. Not merely in an abstract sense does Uzed’s music execute an impressive balancing act between auditory extremity and simplicity, they also retain some of their pastoral, dare I say, anachronistic sounds from earlier records: producing aural sensations which coax one to picture a massive, pitch-black castle situated at the precipice of a cliff, overlooking a stormy sea, whose vast watery contents are furiously twisting and turning as dark clouds consolidate above. Univers Zero provides us with a sonic tapestry which could easily serve as the sound track to a story tacking place within that castle, enveloped within those some foreboding meteorological conditions. As the thrusting, powerful and portentous bass-driven rhythms commencing ‘Parade’ start to be interspersed with flourishes of glistening key melodies and cello sonorities, I can simultaneously picture walking through a beautiful pastoral landscape on a summer’s eve and stumbling through an insane asylum, while the ending of the same track is more akin to walking through a metal factory, both completely bereft of any human presence and with every engine rumbling along at full capacity; a seemingly lifeless beast synchronously wide awake.
It is really the word surreal that is best applicable here, for the record manages to construe a musical story written in a language one can barely, if at all, properly comprehend. Something especially associable with the album’s mammoth ending track, Emanations, which seems to distil each of the above mentioned sonic experiences into an astounding twelve-and-a-half minute journey. There is both undisputed beauty and agonizing terror found with its musical crevices. All of this is illuminated by the record’s fantastic production job, a factor which undoubtedly contributes to this being the very best Univers Zero has ever sounded. Every single note is brimming with an intensity, a clarity, a force previously unheard of on any Univers Zero release. As undecipherable as the musical formula of Uzed really is, every single nigh-unintelligible musical shard that constitutes the record can be delineated by those willing to challenge themselves with that ever so intimidating task. With that, I must sincerely recognise I have barely scratched the surface of the musical world this record has to offer.
With this masterful slice of chamber rock, Univers Zero established once again a truth which already needed no affirming: they are undoubted masters of crafting the type of Rock In Opposition that is both as unbelievably gorgeous as it is agonizingly confusing. This record is exotic, idiosyncratic, unorthodox, uncompromising, in short avant-garde, in every sense of the word. There really is nothing entirely comparable to it, yet it is evidently part of the band’s ground-breaking musical explorations, explorations already firmly reflected in the oeuvre the band had hitherto established. Nevertheless, whether concerning those who have never dipped their toes into this astonishing outfit’s discography, as well as those more familiar with output of Univers Zero and their contemporaries, I can assure you this is a musical experience you will not want to neglect. This record is a musical concoction which can evidently be described, as
L'Étrange Mixture, and consuming it might impose upon one strange hallucinatory experiences, which might as easily instil a sense of emotional terror as of charming poignancy. Dare you, dear reader, take a sip?
