UZED

This is my first Univers Zero albums, and, in my opinion, it's one of the best Avant Prog albums ever. The year is 1984, but it could easily come from 2084, or even better from another planet. The music is so conceptually unorthodox that it really blows your mind.

Musically this album is insane: each song has a incredible sense of dark and apocalyptic, mixed with some insanity and with bizarre elements. There are many jazz influences, as well as classical ones: in fact, all the most orthodox moments are pretty classical driven. Of course, let's not forget the avant garde feeling, and the massive experimentation used here, a real sense of new and alien music.

"Presage" starts everything. After the mysterious piano intro, it get's very very interesting: basically, it sounds like jazz played by aliens, since all the instruments are driven into a completely different level of playing. The clarinet is probably the biggest highlight, giving the sound an unusual touch of madness. "L'Extrange Mixture...." is the funnest song off the album, and the shortest one as well. Some moments it sounds almost like a joke, but actually it's so serious that it seems that way. In other moments, it's a lot more rigid, but very free at the same time. The most interesting piece of music of the album. "Celesta" is played, on the first half, without any type of percussion, giving this very tense atmosphere, sometimes creepy, that seems like it will explode and finish in any moment. In fact, after 3/4 after the song, the drums come in, and the music becomes unbelievably dark, scary, mysterious, always keeping the sense of apocalyptic. Probably the most effective song of the album. "Parade" is the most unusual song, it is though probably the weakest. Some moments are very interesting, especially because of the unusual rhythms, not only for drums but even for bass and keyboards. The least effective song, and the most forgettable one, despite having interesting moments. "Emmenations" is more than 15 minutes long, a masterpiece of avant prog, a true piece of art. After the first couple of minutes, the song explodes, creating a tense and suspended atmosphere, very enigmatic and curious. The song then goes towards another direction, being generally more calm, but still very puzzling.

In conclusion, I must say that this is one of the best RIO albums I have ever heard. Giving it five stars seems perfectly reasonable for me.