Fire of Unknown Origin

Raffaella Berry's progressive music journey

Feeds:
Posts
Comments
« From the Vault: Steely Dan – Countdown to Ecstasy (1973)
D.F.A. – 4th (2008) »

Univers Zéro – Heresie (1979/2010)

January 30, 2011 by progmistress

TRACKLISTING:
1. La Faulx  (25:03)
2. Jack the Ripper (13:20)
3. Vous Le Saurez En Temps Voulu (12:51)
4. Chaos Hermetique (bonus track) (11:52)

LINEUP:
Michel Berckmans – oboe, bassoon (1-3)
Daniel Denis – drums, percussion
Patrick Hanappier – violin, viola
Vincent Motouille – keyboards (4)
Guy Segers – bass, voice
Roger Trigaux – guitar, piano, organ, harmonium

Released when the original prog movement had, for the most part, already run out of steam, over the years Heresie has built a reputation as one of the gloomiest, most disturbing records ever produced in a progressive rock context. A descent into unadulterated darkness, Univers Zéro’s second album enjoys near-legendary status in the more forward-thinking circles of prog fans. As technically brilliant as any of the ‘big name’ bands of the early Seventies (and possibly even more so), the Belgian outfit approach the creation of highly challenging music from a distinctly different angle than the likes of Genesis or Yes – while a comparison with King Crimson might feel more appropriate.

Almost 32 years after Heresie’s release, Univers Zéro are the only founding band of the Rock in Opposition movement to be still active. With their latest release, Clivages, hailed as one of the last year’s landmark albums, their performance at the 2010 edition of the Sonic Circuits Festival in Washington DC (thanks to the joint efforts of the festival organizers and the band’s label, Cuneiform Records) was nothing short of breathtaking. They are also, however, a very divisive band to the more conservative set of prog fans, who often look upon the whole RIO/Avant scene as little more than a bunch of purveyors of jarring, overly demanding fare with pseudo-intellectual pretensions. While most of the classic prog of the ‘70s is symphonic in inspiration, with Univers Zéro we enter ‘chamber rock’ territory – which, just like its classical counterpart, can be the object of equally intense love or loathing.

Originally running at a whopping 50 minutes (very unusually for a single vinyl album), and almost completely acoustic, Heresie undoubtedly shares more with academic music than conventional rock, with typical rock instruments like the guitar taking a back seat. While Daniel Denis’ astounding drumming forms the core of the band’s sound, his style distinctly clashes with the common image of the powerhouse rock drummer. Having been so lucky as to see him and Magma’s Christian Vander on stage in the space of a week, I was struck by how both of them come across as almost antithetic to the brash, flamboyant style of drummers such as Mike Portnoy. Indeed, both Denis’ and Vander’s  approach to drumming brings to mind the role of percussion in an orchestra –  not merely propulsive, but textural and expressive at the same time. .

Though frequently described as the ideal soundtrack to a horror movie (or even to one of HP Lovecraft’s insomnia-inducing short stories), Heresie does not have a lot in common with the hard-hitting, yet slightly garish music produced by the likes of Goblin and Keith Emerson for Dario Argento’s iconic slasher flicks. As pointed out in the very thorough liner notes (courtesy of Renato Moraes and Aymeric Leroy, Canterbury expert extraordinaire and founder of the Calyx website), the album’s centrepiece, the monumental, 25-minute “La Faulx” (The Scythe) parallels the structure of Ingmar Bergman’s legendary The Seventh Seal – also suggested by the bleak, sepia-tinted cover artwork. Though “La Faulx” might at first appear as Univers Zéro’s idiosyncratic take on that old prog warhorse, the ‘epic’, I see it as perfectly contained chamber piece rather than a mini-symphony like “Close to the Edge”or “Supper’s Ready”. Opening with about seven minutes of nightmarishly chaotic sounds, echoing drum beats and menacing vocal growls in an invented language that would give any death metal band a run for their money, it develops into an intense, mesmerizing theme propelled along by Denis’ subtle yet relentless drumming and Michel Berckmans’ rich tapestry of woodwinds, interspersed by the plaintive voice of the violin. When, towards the end, the controlled chaos subsides, a hint of melody surfaces, as well as a measure of calm that seem to reflect the ending of Bergman’s masterpiece.

While apparently more cohesive and linear in compositional structure, “Jack the Ripper” suggests the devastation wrought by the titular character by means of harsh violin slashes, while the bassoon and drums at the beginning evoke the slow, plodding pace of a funeral march. The whole structure of the track is indeed ruled by the drums, whose expressive potential unfolds fully, lending them a ‘voice’ that transcends mere rhythmic beat. On the other hand, “Vous Le Saurez En Temps Voulu” (We’ll Let You Know in Due Time) is the most classically-inspired of the three original compositions, with a tuneful, almost upbeat first half reminiscent of Stravinsky, gradually driving towards a disturbing, doom-laden culmination – the ‘due time’ of the title probably referring to the moment of death.

The thorough remixing process undergone by Heresie lifts the music from the murky depths of the original version – perhaps effective in terms of atmosphere, but much less so in terms of musical enjoyment. However, besides the definite improvement of the sound quality, the main attraction of the album lies in the previously unreleased track “Chaos Hermetique”, remastered from an audio cassette copy and originally recorded in 1975,  prior to Berckmans’ arrival. With a definitely more electric direction, it revolves around composer Roger Trigaux’s guitar, conjuring shades of the sleek angularity of King Crimson; while Denis assumes a more conventional rock drummer role, providing plenty of bottom end in unison with Guy Segers’ bass.

Splendidly composed and flawlessly executed, Heresie can nonetheless prove nearly unapproachable for those who believe melody and memorable tunes are essential components of music. While not as harsh or atonal as other efforts by RIO/Avant bands, and much more disciplined and tightly knit than one might expect, this is an album that needs to be listened to with care and attention, preferably when the time and mood are right – and not just because it is ‘scary’ music that might not make you sleep at night. Based on painstaking detail (like most chamber music) rather than broad sweeps, it also possesses the austere beauty of medieval architecture, stark though not exactly minimalistic, yet full of  majesty and power. In any case, I would recommend Heresie to anyone interested in authentically progressive, challenging music, though not necessarily ‘prog’ in the canonical sense of the word. A liking for early 20th-century academic music would also help when approaching Univers Zéro’s output as a whole.

Links:
http://www.univers-zero.com
http://www.cuneiformrecords.com

Share this:

  • Facebook

Like this:

Like Loading...

Related

Posted in Avant-garde, Instrumental, Progressive, Progressive Rock, Review | Tagged Belgium, chamber rock, Cuneiform Records, Daniel Denis, Guy Segers, HP Lovecraft, Michel Berckmans, Patrick Hanappier, Roger Trigaux, Sonic Circuits Festival, The Seventh Seal, Univers Zéro | 1 Comment

One Response

  1. on February 3, 2011 at 11:24 pm Ben Sommer

    Spookie stuff! Wow – kinda cool



Comments are closed.

  • Archives

  • Most Recent Posts

    • Romantic Warriors IV – Krautrock part 2
    • Romantic Warriors IV – Krautrock part 1
    • Not Your Father’s Prog – 2016 in Review
    • Zhongyu – Zhongyu (2016)
    • Deus Ex Machina – Devoto (2016)
  • Calendar

    January 2011
    M T W T F S S
     12
    3456789
    10111213141516
    17181920212223
    24252627282930
    31  
    « Dec   Feb »
  • Categories

    • Acoustic (5)
    • Alternative (5)
    • Ambient (16)
    • Announcement (15)
    • Art Rock (25)
    • Biography (11)
    • Blues (4)
    • Book (2)
    • Chamber Music (10)
    • Classic Rock (18)
    • Concert (21)
    • Contemporary Academic Music (4)
    • Crossover (14)
    • Essay (11)
    • Festival (29)
    • Film (5)
      • Documentary (5)
    • Folk (14)
    • Funk (1)
    • Hard Rock (11)
    • Heavy Metal (2)
    • Instrumental (58)
    • Interview (12)
    • Jazz (12)
    • Jazz-Rock (51)
      • Fusion (20)
    • Live Album (2)
    • Math Rock (4)
    • New Age (1)
    • New Wave (2)
    • Poetry (1)
    • Progressive (29)
      • Avant-garde (10)
      • Electronic (8)
    • Progressive Metal (15)
    • Progressive Rock (259)
      • Canterbury Scene (24)
      • Krautrock (2)
      • Neo-Progressive (5)
      • Post-Prog (4)
      • Post-Rock (5)
      • Psychedelic (15)
      • RIO/Avant (44)
      • Rock Progressivo Italiano (RPI) (28)
      • Symphonic (24)
      • Zeuhl (4)
    • Review (239)
    • Space Rock (5)
    • Statistics (4)
    • Uncategorized (3)
    • Website (1)
    • World Music (16)
  • Blogroll

    • Documentation
    • Plugins
    • ProgArchives
    • Suggest Ideas
    • Support Forum
    • Themes
    • WordPress Blog
    • WordPress Planet
  • Friends

    • Alison Says
    • Alison's Column
    • Astounded by Sound!
    • Athos
    • Autopoietican
    • Bill's Prog Blog
    • Brett W. McCoy
    • Chi Va con lo Zoppo… Ascolta Buona Musica!
    • Feeding the Silence
    • GFreedom's Spot
    • Gibraltar's Prog Blog
    • Hanging Sounds
    • Having My Bass and Eating It Too
    • Hunnibee Reviews
    • Italian Prog Map
    • JezSpace
    • La Luna di Alfonso
    • Lo Scrittore Progressivo
    • MB – Music Box
    • Mindofthemasses
    • Music From the Other Side of the Room
    • New Prog Releases
    • Notes from the Wilderness
    • Pen and Think
    • Prog Is Alive and Well in the 21st Century
    • Prog Lessons ovvero… Cosa si prova ad ascoltare il Progressive Rock
    • Progressive Rock Moments
    • Progshine
    • Rockateca
    • Romantic Warriors
    • Scott's Music Reviews
    • Something for the Weekend?
    • SONAR
    • Strongprogress
    • The Bearded Blog
    • The Bodhisattva Beat
    • The Echoes Blog
    • The Epileptic Gibbon Podcast Music Show
    • The Leviathan
    • the Prog Space
    • The Progressive Aspect
    • The Rickter Scale
    • The Semi-Constant Ravings of a Musical Madman
    • The Sound of Fighting Cats
    • The Totally Subjective Classical Music Blog
    • Tye-Dye Dad
    • Udi Koomran – Guidelines for the Recording Musician
    • Wand'ring Again
    • West Coast Metal
  • Music Websites

    • Arlequins
    • DPRP – Dutch Progressive Rock Pages
    • MovimentiPROG
    • ProgArchives
    • ProgMontreal
    • ProgressoR
    • ProgSphere
    • Rockprogressive.it
    • The Progressive Aspect
  • Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

    Join 139 other subscribers

Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.

WPThemes.


Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
  • Follow Following
    • Fire of Unknown Origin
    • Join 139 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Fire of Unknown Origin
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Copy shortlink
    • Report this content
    • View post in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...
 

    %d bloggers like this: