The French avant-garde rockers return with their fifth album in 14 years which sees them veer away from the metal leanings of their previous work toward a more technical progressive rock framework. The screaming vocals and wild guitar kick you in the head from the beginning in "Déjà vu". The track develops in a schismatic, frantic fashion with a deep bass, complex drum fills and a Fripp-like guitar. English vocals alternatively scratch and soothe the ears in close technical association with the percussion, sax and bass. "Oakleaves" opens with a pretty vibraphone motif before being hacked to death by an insistent jumpy guitar figure which largely drowns out the vocals. Powerful drum and bass take over the lead and the vocal changes to more of a rap style. The track returns to the vibraphone figure for the outro.
There's an Echolyn influence in the next song, "Efficiency and Bad Habits" with its melodious vocal delivered over a sharply angular instrumental arrangement. Organ provides counterpoint to the vocal and the mix of back line and guitar and sax weaving and clashing together is simply stunning, if somewhat hard to assimilate on first listen. A change of pace is welcomed in the balladic opening to "In a maze" but the grating discordance that epitomises their style soon returns to the fore in the central section. One of the best pieces on the album.
I thought I was going to get "Green Onions" at the start of "Custom Device", but it soon morphed into a dark attack of guitars, sax and a superb bass and percussion duet. Francois Wong has taken over the brass section, playing his sax through a guitar amp and effects pedals which massively widens the range of his instrument. This song is one of the most interesting as well as accessible on the album and for my money represents the band at its best, blending melody with instrumental complexity and scintillating rhythms. The Zappa-esque "Thoughtful Anatomy" takes an unexpected turn into a more traceable theme and away from the huge polyphonics of the earlier tracks whilst the band returns to it's angular aggression as it develops. "Dead Dog" is as squishy as the imagined subject, all blurred guitar chords, fuzzy vocal, wild sax and sudden, turn-on-a-dime, time changes. Pluck the bones out of this one if you can.
An anachronistic organ and weirdly dirge like theme surrounds the simple vocal opening of "Ancient Follies", another intriguing track delivered at a much slower tempo. This direction carries over for a while in "Our Countries", a commanding bass leading the way through a mix of placid verses and interwoven angularity. King Crimson influences abound in this one. "Cogent Stories" returns to a more dissonant structure with driving rhythms and nervy, tension and release sequences. Once again, hints of Echolyn are present in the vocal delivery and instrumental coating. The drummer deserves a medal for keeping his head together throughout the intricate arrangement. This exhausting album is completed with "Biting Tongues", a work of exquisite electronic sounds played over a plodding drum pattern in a strangely evocative time signature.
Put these guys up there alongside Tool and the Mars Volta as modern masters of the heavy-technical alt/prog scene. They pack as much development into a 5 minute song as most bands manage on an entire album. Not for the faint hearted but for those of you that like to get your teeth into complex and challenging music, this is a feast.
Track Listing
1. Déjà vu
2. Oakleaves
3. Efficiency and Bad Habits
4. In a maze
5. Custom Device
6. Thoughtful Anatomy
7. Dead Dog
8. Ancient Follies
9. Our Countries
10. Cogent Stories
11. Biting Tongues
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