PANGAEA PROXIMA

UNIT WAIL is the most recent project of guitarist Franck Fromy who was one of the founding members of the legendary SHUB NIGGURATH. He's brought on board four younger guys who i'm sure have all learned a great deal about music from this master of dark and intense music. This particular project is all instrumental but not too far off the path that SHUB NIGGURATH blazed through hell itself. We get twelve tracks over 45 minutes so it's easy to digest.

Up first is "Mesozoic Cities" where the first sounds we hear are of Franck's distorted guitar crying out as the rest of the band join in but the guitar stands out most. It picks up speed and I must say I like the drumming here as it seems sporadic. Keys replace the guitar before 2 minutes with background synths giving the song a different vibe although it's still dark. The guitar is back to end it. "Ombos" is haunting with some jarring sounds bringing UNIVERS ZERO to mind. The guitar comes in playing angular melodies over top of the darkness. Check out the drumming after 2 minutes after the guitar fades to the background. Sounds like electronics joining in as well.

"Telete" opens with drums and bass before we get some brief mellotron. I like this a lot. The mellotron is back and the bass and drums are so intricate here as the guitar is strummed. "Sargasso Sea" takes us back into the night then suddenly it all speeds up and the distorted guitar plays over top with mellotron waves in tow. great stuff ! It settles back again but the tempo will coninue to shift. Insane guitar late. "Outerspace" blows me away because the synths sound so much like PORCUPINE TREE. Who would have thought ? It opens with electronics and when it kicks in i'm thinking of the psychedelic period of PT. mainly because of the tone of the guitar. Man this is so good ! The drums are aggressive and the bass is digging very deep. My favourite tune right here, very impressive.

"Humanoid Fish From Encelade" is different with a multitude of sounds coming and going. Mellotron comes and goes. "Home Of Nowhere" is the darkest yet as we get this creepy and ominous soundscape then the mellotron joins in just to add to the fear they are creating. "Magnetostriction" is fairly uptempo and fuzzed out. Nice. "Holocene Extinction" opens like we are in a dream then it kicks in before a minute. Contrasts continue. "Shambhala" is the longest track at almost 5 1/2 minutes. Piano, bass, drums, guitar and mellotron before it all picks up. There's so many things I want to focus on here. A very interesting track to say the least. "Three Eyes" opens with ominous guitar sounds then the tempo picks up with some killer playing by all. It settles back as the contrasts continue. "Subdeath" like the previous tune features some dark sounding guitar expressions but with a marching styled beat like we're heading to the grave. Piano joins in as the guitar cries out. The spoken words before 3 minutes sound like the are from Death himself welcoming us to our final abode. It starts to get frantic or is that me. What a way to end the album !

Just a great start for this band and I must say that after hearing the followup "Retort" recently these guys are only getting better.