Review Summary: Just as you get into a song, the band completely changes it, as if to actively mess with you. But at a cost of enjoying the music.
I've been getting into early Gojira recently, and seeing that Joe & Mario Duplantier were in an obscure experimental metal band that most don't care for, I had to pick this record up. With Joe on vocals, guitar & bass, Mario on drums, Stéphane Chateneuf also on vocals, Laurentx Etxemendi on saxophone, and finally Christian Maisonnave on percussion, it feels like they were just throwing ideas to the wall & seeing what stuck. But lemme get into the tracks.
The opening track, Chez Evelyne, opens with a clean guitar repeating a single complex riff before the vocals. I do like the juxtaposed mix of clean and dirty vocals, and how it weaves between metal and jazz fusion.
La Trappe de Especial starts off with a sax, but soon comes in with a very heavy bass. The sax does very well with the metal aspects of this song, and tops it off with weird but enjoyable vocals here and there. It does try to shake things up with a sudden and juxtaposed change in song structure, but I think it detracts from the song a lot. A very strong start, but has to ruin that with a strange and slow part halfway.
Jeannot, at the start, has quite the dissonant guitar. Then the rest of the band joins in, along with weirder vocals than before. It is actually pretty inoffensive until another sudden change in song, where it turns into metal. But unlike before, it's a very welcome change. I do like that this album keeps you on your toes. Just as you’re getting settled in, it pulls the rug out from under you. Another complete change in structure, where it just stops and there’s weird mumbling in that strange high-pitched vocals. And then it goes to the start of the song. Absolute tonal whiplash. I appreciate the ambition, but the song is much to be desired.
Mañassé comes in with a fuzzy guitar riff while the rest of the band keeps up. Overall, very inoffensive so far. Not even any strange vocals. Standard song structure for the most part, keeping things varied enough to keep the listener engaged. The song change is not as sudden this time as the guitar progressively gets more distorted as vocals are shouted into you. It then just turns into a full blown metal song with weird vocals, and the sax doing a great job overall.
Le Bol begins with some muffled keyboards, with a scratching effect done over it. The vocals are very strained and illegible , like it's coming from a very old person. And that’s it. Nothing more, nothing less. At least it's not wasting your time, with it being a minute long.
With Ua 2, the sax works great with what sounds like keyboards, until it morphs into metal and shouting vocals. Shortly it goes back to before with the same somewhat shouty vocals. Then it's strange vocal performances, with bits of the instruments popping in here and there. Then it goes into metal with the same weird vocals across the board. I really don't know what to say for the rest of the song. It eventually descends into what I would call a freakout period.
Faisez la Bagarre has more strange vocals as it has a clean guitar doing some mellow but complex riffs. The lyrics the entire time are just repeating the song name. Again, only a minute long, so i can’t complain too much. I can handle weird moments like this if it's very much condensed, especially if it's repetitive. Others don’t see the point in tracks like these and wish it was taken out in general, but it's only a minute.
π KK starts with a distorted and clangy guitar, until it goes into metal. More weird vocals litter throughout the song. The guitar then becomes much slower with a repetitive single note being repeated, until it turns into chugging with the said note.But that lasts very little until another structure change. Then back into chugging, then back into the more slow part. The last minute and a half is a freakout moment.
Mister Incovenient begins with a weaving guitar riff as a rumbling bass comes to support. Some parts catch my interest, beginning with around 2 minutes in. The song progresses into metal (as i’ve come to expect with this band.) And then just ***ing bloodcurdling screams come in to finish the song.
Caravan Man. Begins with low-fi keyboards until what I think is a turntable comes. It sounds like it's going to turn into a hip hop song, until the sax is played over it. That’s it.
Final song, Dru. The song actually tries to mix some of the aspects of this album, with the clean guitar trading off the heavy bass. And then things get weirder when the sax starts overblowing, but they still keep chugging. Further down the line, the sax and the bass kind of go with each other until it goes back into chugging. It takes its absolute sweet time fading out, taking an entire two minutes before they decide to end it.
This album is really weird. I would say on another level. The 90 degree turns, inane vocals, and just how absolutely unpredictable the album makes this something I would not recommend to a lot of people. I like unpredictable music, but this album really takes it to different extremes than what I'm used to. I appreciate the fact that this album exists, but I would not listen to this again. I think twice is enough. Even for recommended tracks, I’m lost.
Recommenced Tracks: Chez Evelyne, Mañassé.
