_WE, INVADERS

WE, INVADERS is the 2nd release by UNEXPECT in the form of a four track EP . It is the transitional link between their debut album "Utopia" which was firmly grounded in avant-garde death metal and the phenomenal masterpiece "In A Flesh Aquarium" where UNEXPECT tackles every musical genre and subgenre that exists and throws it all in a pot together. This album is the half way point between those two albums. I would say that it is a little closer to the following album rather than the previous as they are already adept at fusing many styles of music together seamlessly. It just doesn't sound as busy and densely packed with EVERY type of music.

It is also clear on this album that the template for their sound is based on classical music and it sounds like these musicians are classical trained and educated because they play this everything in a virtuosic manner. The piano runs can remind you of Mozart or Chopin while the violin sounds a lot like Paganini. On the metal side it can sound like traditional, death or thrash. Since the tracks are less busy they sound more melodic in a straight forward way as opposed to a poly-melodic one. One track "In Velvet Coffins We Sleep" is a remake of a track from the debut album while another "Chromatic Chimera" is a stripped down piano version of the track on "Aquarium."

All in all this doesn't sound like it should be an essential recording but I have really grown to love this band and I find myself picking this album up a lot because it is just so perfectly done. It certainly doesn't measure up to the following albums in complexity but that matters not for it is well-crafted and an enjoyable listen with a greater emphasis on classical melodic textures with subordinating metal and other musical genres. Not a masterpiece but a very strong album. Stripped down or gussied up, UNEXPECT is a band that delivers a unique musical experience unlike any other and this transitory EP is no exception.