TRISKAÏDÉKAPHOBIE

One of the earliest examples of the unique hybrid of 20th century classical music, chamber music and avant-prog, Univers Zero stunned the world with its darkened delivery of these composites with its first two albums "1313 (originally released self-titled)" and "Heresie" which took the world of avant-prog into more sinister grounds and the basis of scary horror soundtrack music that wasn't from the Italian group Goblin for decades to come. Despite the eerie perfection that was laid out on those two classic epic album, composer/guitarist/pianist Roger Trigaux decided to jump ship and create a new band where he presumably had a bit more control. The result was the band PRESENT which signified a split between the world of Univers Zero and PRESENT where he stole bassist Christian Genet from the first UZ album as well as drummer Daniel Denis who would moonlight in both bands for many years.

With the exit stage left of Trigaux, Univers Zero was shown to have lost the darkest member of the crew as the third UZ album sans Trigaux shifted gears completely in terms of darkness by offering a "lighter" approach to what had been established on the first two albums. On the other hand PRESENT took the dark side of avant-prog / chamber rock / modern classic music to even more extremes. For PRESENT's debut TRISKAÏDÉKAPHOBIE which is the French word for triskaidekaphobia and means fear of the number 13, the darkness was a more concentrated form which unleashed a more frenetic version of what UZ had done only with a stronger guitar presence and a knack for crafting a larger than life sound with as a mere quartet. TRISKAÏDÉKAPHOBIE could possibly qualify as the scariest and most forbidding album of the year 1980 unleashing sonic demons and forever making you wonder if the number 13 is really Satan in disguise!

TRISKAÏDÉKAPHOBIE originally featured a mere three tracks with two monstrously long nail-biters followed by a shorter come down piece. Considered one of the unabashed masterpieces of avant-prog, PRESENT admirably picked up the torch where the first two Univers Zero albums had suddenly left off. The opening "Promenade Au Fond D'un Canal" featured a claustrophobic 19 minute plus run beginning as eerily dark chamber rock before breaking into martial guitar and bass groove much like the world of zeuhl with Christian Genet's stellar bass gymnastics reminding of Jannick Top in Magma's classic Kobaian output. While the music retains the UZ darkened chamber rock vibe, the combo effect of the zeuhl rhythmic drive, frenetic keyboard runs and perpetual cyclical loops bringing Philip Glass's minimalistic approach to the table, all conspire to create a bizarre surreal soundscape that took the world of avant-prog to more energetic realms beyond anything Henry Cow or Univers Zero had explored thus far. The track slowly transmogrifies into a more rock induced hypnosis culminated in some wickedly wild guitar workouts before finally ceding to the next equally frenetic offering.

The second track "Quatre-Vingt Douze" misses the 16-minute mark but is every bit as effective at keeping the album's mood dialed to creepsville. Fortified with more melodic classical piano rolls, the alternation of sensual slow moving parts and fidgety angularities of the electric piano finger breakers offearas another startling taste of PRESENT's bleak musical palette. This track integrates more variations of styles, tones, timbres and motifs thus making it less hypnotic than track #1 but even more frightening. The original album closed with the 3 1/2 minute "Repulsion" which provided a creepy ambient come down period with a repetitive tone, gongs and a blackened atmospheric drone sounding more like the post-rock of Godspeed You! Black Emperor or other similar minded posties than what came before. The 2014 CD release on the Cuneiform label features an additional 20 minutes of live bonus tracks featuring the Univers Zero tracks "Dense" and "Vous Le Saurez En Temps Voulu" which was allowed since Denis was playing in both bands simultaneously.

PRESENT released a total of six studio albums before Trigaux's untimely passing in 2021 but of all the albums he crafted under the band name PRESENT, it's this debut TRISKAÏDÉKAPHOBIE that provides the most haunting musical experience you could ever hope for in the days before scary music started creeping into various musical genres. While a direct descendent of the first two UZ albums, PRESENT crafted a masterful mix of the most frenetic and hypnotic styles of music that existed at the time and in the process evoking the otherworldliness of Magma, the minimalism of modern 20th century classical artists as well as the angular jagged workouts afforded by the whacked out world of avant-prog. With tightly delivered instrumental workouts that featured four excellent musicians making stunning hairpin turns in unison, TRISKAÏDÉKAPHOBIE is an absolutely essential avant-prog album that remains timeless in its bizarro mondo freakery and a worthy continuation of what UZ had crafted with Trigaux. M-m-m-masterpiece of progressive rock!