2 years in the making, Uneven Structure's album "Februus" is everything I expected and more. Its mind-bending prog-metal is the perfect balance between heavy djent, beautiful clean guitars and lush soundscapes.
The best part about Uneven Structure's new album is that they have successfully carved themselves a niche in the over-crowded djent scene. With a large number of djent-bands popping up every now and then, this album comes as a breath of fresh air. They're snippet released on youtube, formerly named as "Februus Extract", almost more than a year ago, was a sneak-peek into what they were working on. Not only did that video make "Februus" one of my most anticipated albums of the year, but it came as a ray of hope in an already crowded djent movement.
I can understand why they are often compared with djent stalwarts, "TesseracT" because of how similar their guitar tones (clean and distorted) and melodic parts sound like, but they have an entirely different thing going for them. Uneven Structure's focus is more on utilizing heavy palm-muted riffage to complement their beautiful post-rockish soundscapes that they paint. The heavy riffage only helps to create a build up to crushing crescendos, rather than TesseracT's approach of groove-laden song structures complemented with melodic and clean guitar parts. Also, TesseracT does not rely on atmosphere like Uneven Structure, where atmosphere is the main element of the band.
But enough about the band, on to the actual review of the album.
The album is actually structured in 3 parts. With the 1st segment being 'Awaken', 'Frost' and 'Hail', these tracks follow a single musical concept, till we go to the first interlude, 'Exmersion'. From here 'Buds', 'Awe' and 'Quittance' are the 2nd segment which follow a similar musical concept, till comes the second interlude 'Limbo'. After that, 'Plentitude' and 'Finale' bring the album to climactic close.
The album starts off with 'Awaken'. The band's 1st ever music-video (a beautiful visual treat in itself), which I understand why they would choose it to be their début single. Its the most straight-forward song off the album and gives you a glimpse of what the entire album has in store for you.
From 'Awaken' it goes off to 'Frost'. The youtube snippet I mentioned earlier? That was actually 'Frost', and its my personal favourite off the album. There's just something about the part at 2:31 that makes me go all wind-mill. The first time I heard the youtube track, I instantly knew the potential in it, and I loved every moment of it. It has everything. Crushing djent, heavy groove-laden riffage, soft post-rockish atmosphere, clean guitar melodies and an awesome end to an amazing song.
Just before you realize 'Frost' is over, 'Hail' kicks in... hard.
After the heavy barrage of 'Hail' you're given a moment to catch your breath with 'Exmersion'. The band shows off their ability to create a soothing atmosphere with ambient music, which is really what you need after going through such complex tracks like 'Awaken', 'Frost' and 'Hail'.
With 'Exmersion' fading off into the silence the band brings us slowly back into the djent with 'Buds'. From here on, its more heavy music with 'Awe' and 'Quittance' which might be one of the heaviest tracks off the album, till we literally go into 'Limbo'. A track so heavy with atmosphere, you could cut it with a knife.
'Limbo' is the last time you'll get a chance to catch your breath, till we move into the last segment of the album, 'Plentitude' and 'Finale'. Here, the band shows off how it can completely grab you and take you through a musical journey and create one of the most climactic endings I've heard in a very long time. You won't be wrong to assume that both 'Plentitude' and 'Finale' are actually one complete song, because it obviously seemed that way to me when I heard it. 'Finale' sounds like its the outro to 'Plentitude'. The same musical progression continues from 'Plentitude' into 'Finale' which then eventually fades out to end the album.
The entire album is so flawlessly seamed together, its hard to tell when one track ends and the other starts. A feat almost impossible to pull off, but Uneven Structure do it effortlessly. The continuity of the album from one track to the other is perfect, which makes it feel as if the entire album was supposed to be heard in one go.
There is also a 2nd CD that comes along with the album containing 3 tracks, which all together are almost half an hour long. They're entirely ambient tracks, which would not seem out of place as a movie or video-game score. It sort of reminded me of the soundtrack to Limbo, but then again, I couldn't tell the difference between one ambient track to the next. That's why I don't have much to say about this CD. I honestly, couldn't tell the difference between any of the 3 tracks. It seems the mastermind behind Uneven Structure, Iggy, is a huge ambient-head. Having an ambient side-project, "worC", its no wonder he would include something like this on "Februus". But then again, I'm not complaining because that's a genre I'm not at all familiar with.
If you want, you can skip the 2nd CD, but I think you should still give it a chance. Its not really my cup of tea, but I rather enjoyed a few parts of it.
Overall, this is an awesome album! Probably the most amazing album I've heard since "The Ocean - Precambrian" (that album was a total mind-job, by the way). But "Februus" is such an amazingly, well structured album that you can't help but listen all the way through. The layer upon layer of textures creates such a thick atmosphere that you'll be lost in the fuzz of guitars and at times the cooing of the vocalist. That is, till his screams (bundled with the heavy djent) comes back to wake you up again.
This album is a must listen for any metal-head who likes to dabble in the progressive side of music. And if anything "post" is your thing, then you'll completely love this album.
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