UNIVERS ZERO [AKA: 1313]

They say that time flies when you're having fun and I've definitely had a blast reviewing album after album within the last couple of months. The occasion has finally come for me to unveil another highlight in my music collection and so for my 300th review I bring you Univers Zero's debut album!

My Univers Zero journey actually only started about a year ago when I spontaneously purchased Uzed and after being so immensely impressed by what I heard on that record I just had to hear more from this exciting band. After carefully reading up on all the band's releases the choice fell between the debut album and Heresie. Although I was warned that these two albums were far more acoustic in their tone than anything I heard on Uzed I put my faith in the hands of the prog gods (or spirits) and once again they smiled upon me!

1313 or simply Univers Zéro starts off with the haunting sounds of Ronde that remind me a lot of the Main Title Theme From Jaws but that's also where all comparisons to any other existing music ends. The rest of the track is basically Univers Zéro doing what they do best namely creating new innovative music in the genre that even by 1977 was already becoming stale and uninspired. Michel Berckmans' bassoon playing is just magnificent and it definitely steals the show on quite a few occasions although Daniel Denis' jumps often into the action and shows some of the most versatile drumming techniques that sometimes even make me wonder whether he makes the stuff up as he goes along!

After the 15 minutes that you are bound to never forget comes the short composition titled Carabosse which, together with Complainte, work like transitional interludes which take the listener's mind off the everything that came before and recuperates him/her for the next round. In case of Complainte it works like a perfect outro to the album which makes it easy to give the album another spin or two right after the first time. The placement of these compositions is just brilliant on this record because 15 minutes of intense music followed by 3 minutes of peaceful chamber music sounds completely natural to my ears.

The two back-to-back 7,5 minute compositions titled Docteur Petiot and Malaise turn this album from a masterpiece to one of my top 20 favorite albums of all time! Docteur Petiot has a noteworthy middle section where Daniel Denis gets the opportunity to play some erratic drum-patterns which definitely ignites the question that I raise earlier, but the fact is I love every second of it!

After being completely numbed by the previous performance Malaise comes to the rescue and delivers another mind boggling experience. This composition would have easily become a highlight on any other album but here it fades somewhat in comparison to the first two lengthy pieces which says even more about the overall quality of this recording.

I should probably give it a rest now since I could discuss 1313/Univers Zéro until the cows come home and in result bore you to tears. Just do whatever you can to seek out this album and find it all out for yourself!

***** star songs: Ronde (15:13) Docteur Petiot (7:45)

**** star songs: Carabosse (3:47) Malaise (7:58) Complainte (3:22)