PANGAEA PROXIMA

Paris experimental prog band that was founded by Franck-William Fromy in 2009 best known for haunting the French underground in the 1980s and early 1990s with his demandingly dark zeuhl fueled avant-prog freak show Shub-Niggurath which delivered the underground cult classic "Les Morts Vont Vite" in 1986. UNIT WAIL carried on many of the aspects laid out by that band and featured along with Fromy on guitar, virtuoso drummer Philippe Haxaire, bassist Adrian Luna, keyboardist Vincent Sicot Vantalon and synthesizer wizard Emmanuel Pothier.

The primary difference between Shub-Niggurath and UNIT WAIL is that in this band Vincent Sicot Vantalon wrote all the material and offered his own take on the darkened detached world where zeuhl, avant-prog and heavy prog collide. Delivering more of a comic space rock approach in the context of zeuhl inspired rhythms that commingle with Frippian guitar abstruseness and layers of double keyboards, UNIT WAIL debuted in 2012 with its debut PANGAEA PROXIMA which featured 12 instrumentals that were relatively short instrumental compositions in terms of prog grandiosity with a total playing time of just over 44 minutes.

Having taken the best aspects of Shub-Niggurath and adding a few tricks learned on his short stint with 000 that flirted with the space rock additions, UNIT WAIL delivered a powerhouse of a debut with an excellent array of creative compositions fortified by seasoned veterans dishing out some of the most demanding instrumental interplay that the prog universe can offer. The album finds a brief cameo from James Huggett of Combat Astronomy on the track "Ombos" but basically this quintet really rocks the house with a gloomy mix of synthesized motifs that craft the main frame and allow the intricate bass work, angular guitar moves and jazzy drumming frenzies to drift on from one extremely creative track to the next.

The beauty of UNIT WAIL is they really nailed down their own distinct sound on this debut. While hints of Jannick Top inspired bass and Frippian guitar moves are ubiquitous, the oddball space rock cosmic detachment of the atmospheres keeps everything feeling like a strange horror soundtrack in many ways akin to some of the film scores that Goblin cranked out in the 1970s only not in terms of musical delivery but rather the overall emotional pull into that head space. The interesting differentials in the instrumentation is quite unique with busy keyboards dancing with funk inspired bass grooves while the guitar slinks around on its own timeline in any way it chooses like an avant-garde performer given license to exercise true unbridled musical freedom. Always on top of his game is drummer Philippe Haxaire whose fiery performances don't offer a lot of percussive sounds exactly but rather creative excesses within a limited number of skins to pound.

The dueling synthesizers offer the most diversity which sometimes dominate in the forefront and other times sort of just take a back seat to the whizzing virtuosity of the other members to strut their chops. Despite the virtuosity around every corner, UNIT WAIL is not just a technical circus of prog musicians impressing with their chops of steel but rather the compositions deliver an impending gloom and doom in a more cosmic manner as opposed to some of the 80s bands that delivered a depressive behind the occult scenes sort of approach. This is a type of wild and uncommercial music that will totally to appeal to those drawn to the dark and surreal album cover art.

It's otherworldly as if it emerged from some planet that self-destructed leaving a society only to exist in ruins. Keep in mind i'm reviewing the 2016 remastered version of PANGAEA PROXIMA therefore i've never encountered the original 2012 edition which presumably was of a shoddier production value. It's the music what counts and this is so up my alley. UNIT WAIL is one of the most interesting zeuhl / avant-prog / heavy prog acts of the modern era for sure. The creative collaboration between Fromy and Sicot Vantalon seems to be the absolute perfect chemistry for this creative ooze of oddball music. So far the band has released four albums. I hope they keep doing so.