Aside from taking about a month of slow consistent listening to this album to fully appreciate (obsess over) I always found it a little bizarre that many people find this album disjointed. I find most of the songs actually pretty consistent. I see the song structures more as a continual metamorphosis of a single theme driven by each contributing members weirdness, rather than a musical journey of consistently altering scenes. However I found that the cohesiveness of the songs may not be fully realized until the song ends if the song as a whole was fully comprehended and remembered (admitedly a daunting task considering how many conventional musical ideas are either twisted or used unconventionally).

I think what alot of people get lost in are the embelished additions of the non-lead instruments in any given section. from what I've heard each and every section is actually co-written by at least two members, and then everyone else in the band adds onto that idea. I'm not sure if the other members are improvising or if it is a complementary actual writing process. Either way I find that sometimes either the keyboards or strings are hidden in the background of many moments not really adding to melody or ambiance but contributing to the mood of a section, and I think that if its not a traditionally used musical idea, listeners get a little lost on the song looking for these background instruments to have more traditional musical ideas.

I actually find "in a Flesh Aquarium" much more random than "Fables...", and maybe that pure chaotic song structure is conceptually much more easier to digest. I understand and respect Fables isn't everyone's cup of tea, since the album's sound is actually in a very strange place, in that its a band like Unexpect, with all of their weirdness, using their musical talent to make dramatic, epic, ambitiously crafted music in their typically unconventional way.

In a Flesh Aquarium is much more chaotic but I love it. On the other hand this one is a more polished sort of anarchy but it just doesn't appeal to me much, except for the opening track which is imo one of the band's best songs ever.

I thought this was a pretty poor review, mainly because I disagreed with your premise entirely. "For quite a while now I haven't been able to wrap my head around why Unexpect would be seen so negatively by metalheads." As far as I'm aware, Unexpect have received levels of critical acclaim and acclaim from metalheads that are similar to other avant-garde acts. Most first reactions are along the lines of disbelief and an inability to comprehend what just happened, as opposed to just outright saying "This is disjointed" or "This is shitty." Plus...this is the standard for avant-garde music, which can sometimes be received very poorly by most metalheads and even fans of the band itself, and which sometimes can receive almost universal acclaim.

The album is NOT disjointed, and it boggles my mind that users with an affinity for avant-garde music can make this mistake. This leads me to my other main criticism of the review: the inability to describe Unexpect. Yes, they are hard to describe, but you did a really poor job with it here. Demonic Tutor's review was much more revealing, and I appreciate the fact that he acknowledged they were tough to describe. Your approach towards the group (emphasizing crunchy riffs, for example) was the wrong route to take with regards to this band. I still can't get over the fact that you misrepresented the essence of this band by calling them disjointed.

To be honest, this is not one of the finest reviews. I appreciate the fact you took the time to write it, but I think you should try to write reviews on simpler subject matters before you tackle bands like Unexpect.

Written by Paradox0 on 15.02.2013 at 16:01

I actually find "in a Flesh Aquarium" much more random than "Fables...", and maybe that pure chaotic song structure is conceptually much more easier to digest. I understand and respect Fables isn't everyone's cup of tea, since the album's sound is actually in a very strange place, in that its a band like Unexpect, with all of their weirdness, using their musical talent to make dramatic, epic, ambitiously crafted music in their typically unconventional way.

I completely agree with this sentiment.