Unexpect was formed in Quebec, this band combines elements of black, death, core, progressive and melodic metal ; classical, operatic, medieval, electro, ambient, psychotic, noise and circus music with an occasional jazzy touch. Originally a thrash band, this band evolved into what it is today with the release of "Utopia" in 1999 on Galy Records.
This Mini-CD released in 2003, released on Galy Records brings together elements of just about everything on a 4-track, half hour long CD.
Lineup...
Syriak: Singing gnomish mutant with a green guitar
le bateleur: Violin for rotating scarecrows
Leilindel: Dancing maiden, otherworldled voice
ExoD: Electro-canvas and pianistic attack
Artagoth: Screaming Oracle, Djun Guitar
Chaoth: Deep Resonance and ethylic lucidity
The opener, Novae starts the album with some weird ambient intros before blasting in with an intense combination of guitars and keyboards. Very Arcturus-like right here but much more intense, faster and heavier. This track switches between awesome woman vocals and harsh vocals with ease. With in the first minute of the album you have realized this band has got everything going for them. Awesome guitar work, matched and outworked only by the synths and violins. The drummer is a beast. This song involves extreme metal interchanged with classical music and an overall obscurity that comes with the music. This is an incredibly awesome song which is available as a download at www.unexpect.com.
Track two, Rooted Shadows starts with some clean guitars, feedback and a dual voice attack with both man and woman. These two voices work together in perfect harmony. I absolutely love this intro, giving short 2 second blasts of extreme metal every so often. This song then gets more extreme as it progresses with interludes of pure violin work and some odd circus-type music, it makes me feel like i'm at a medieval festival. I'm not exageratting, at all. This song transitions well into In Velvet Coffins We Slept which starts with some violin work and leads into some nice melodic tremelo picking is a very interesting song. Then out of absolutely nowhere, there is some traditional melodic death metal, and i mean absolutely out of nowhere and from this they go into an acoustic part. All these parts are played at an excellent skill level, makes for an awesome combination. This song continues through 8 minutes of odd noises shifting between classical, doom and more melodic death. Absolutely awesome song.
The closer, Chromatic Chimera is an absolutely powerful display of the pianistic attack that is so described in the lineup. This song has all the elements of a real song, but all played on piano. This song is over 5 minutes long and relentless in it's attack on the poor piano keys. Shifting between speedy and beautiful runs and odd and obscure plays on keys makes for an amazing combination. This song is one of the best displays of musical talent i've ever heard. Great Closer.
I give this album a 4.8/5. It's nearly perfect.
Strengths...
The music, the drummer is an absolute animal, the guitars, violins and synths blend together like none other i've heard before. Absolutely mindblowing how good musically these guys are.
Originality, i've never heard music like this before. The closest thing that i can think of is 'La masquerade Infernale' style Arcturus but that hardly compares to this.
The vocals are amazing, the harsh vocals are very well executed, but what stands out is the clean women vocals. I usually don't like woman vocalist, but she is incredible.
Weaknesses...
It's only a mini-cd, so though it's about as long as most death metal albums (about 1/2 hour) it only has four tracks so this may put some of you off.
If you don't like Arcturus, you probably won't like this.
Though the guitar work is very good, there are no solos so this could also be a put off.
Great CD.
