_WE, INVADERS

'UneXpect' is one of those bands I discovered through this site and from reading reviews. I came into it expecting something similar to 'Sleepytime Gorilla Museum' which is a band I love. I figured an EP would be a good place to start especially after reading that this EP is a bridge between their more black metal sound to a more avant Prog metal sound.

There is a very high level of progressiveness to this music. There must be at least 3 lead singers here, a nice female voice, and regular male voice and a growly voice, singing in a rather chaotic way throughout, sometimes together, sometimes not. The music has that crazy chaotic feel of SGM, but with a bit more operatic feel and less structure. Just know that you can't expect to settle on any one style for long, because this metal is anything but typical and always changing even from one note to the next on occasion.

The music is difficult to penetrate because of its complexity and denseness. I don't care for the growling vocals on this one, but the Tech Metal aspects are great. The use of violin throughout is a big plus too. It makes me interested in listening to their later work, but as far as this EP is concerned, it is too reminiscent of black metal even with the level of progressive complexity. There are plenty of surprises hidden throughout like the piano lead in the middle of 'In Velvet Coffins' but things change so much that nothing has a chance to develop anywhere. This version of 'Chromatic Chimera' is step in the right direction, but it isn't really metal either as it is a nice piano interlude with some music box aspects towards the end, which just seems like it was tacked on to the end of the album for variety.

I definitely prefer the better development in SGM's music, even though there are some aspects that are similar. This is why I am interested in looking to their future works. The best track is the aforementioned 'In Velvet Coffins', but again, even in the complexities of Avant Prog music, which this does approach, you still need some development and some feeling of direction to appeal to me. Nevertheless, the musicianship is amazing, so this is a strong 3 star EP.