UNEVEN STRUCTURE: Paragon (PROGRESSIVE METAL): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

"La Partition", released in 2017, was a key album for Uneven Structure. Composed in pain for six long years with an almost maniacal perfectionism, this little avant-garde jewel left indelible traces on the way the band wanted to envisage the continuation of its exploration of a refined and demanding modern metal. The second album was all the more difficult to reach because, after the tour that followed its release, Uneven Structure went from sextet to quartet since two of its three guitarists left the ship, Steeves Hostin having joined Betraying The Martyrs and Jérôme Colombelli having founded God's Empire. Under these conditions, the release of "Paragon" only two years after "La Partition" is a real surprise and it is all the more exciting as this new album is once again a real masterpiece.

Like its predecessors, "Paragon" is a concept album, based on the notion of archetypes defined by Carl Jung in his approach to analytical psychology. In a nutshell, archetypes are models of behaviour engraved in the collective unconscious. If the theory may seem misty at first sight, set to music by Uneven Structure, it becomes a unique auditory and sensory experience. True to form, Igor Omodei and his band create sophisticated musical textures and embark on a journey of multiple twists and turns.

Certainly, the music of Uneven Structure is demanding and requires a total immersion of the listener to feel the innumerable emotional layers. But, while "The Partition" might seem airtight at first glance, "Paragon" is much more accessible from the outset. The band has refocused on its fundamentals and delivers the perfect synthesis of all the qualities of "Februus" and "La Partition" in an album that stands out as the paragon of a progressive post-metal with death accents of an insolent modernity.

With remarkable precision and maturity, Uneven Structure defines its own musical cosmogony with "Paragon", over twelve eclectic and coherent tracks that combine the power of metal riffs ('Outlaw','Everyman'), formidable polyrhythms ('Jester') and enchanting atmospheric passages ('Hero','Creator'). If the band does not deny in any way its most significant influences, notably Tesseract with the magnificent "Innocent" and Devin Townsend with the powerful "Lover", it also knows how to bring other colours to its music with indus instrumental music of the most beautiful effect ("Caregiver" and "Sage"), borrowing from the works of Trent Reznor with Nine Inch Nails.

Stronger than ever, in accordance with themselves and their demanding musical style, the members of Uneven Structure are at the height of their creativity and can count on Mathieu Romarin's exceptional talent, who alternates clear vocals and growl with disarming ease, giving the compositions an obsessive melancholic rage ('Creator') and a contained and subtle emotion ('Magician').

While the expression "maturity album" can sometimes sound like an outdated cliché, it is perfectly adapted to this opus. Inspired, perfectly produced and composed, "Paragon" is an excellent album that reveals its secrets and subtleties through the many listenings necessary to unravel its mystery. Uneven Structure has long been considered by Music Waves as an essential and innovative group. It is now high time for him to finally broaden his audience and reach the status he deserves, to the forefront of modern metal.
- Official website

UNEVEN STRUCTURE

PARAGON

LONG BRANCH RECORDS

PROGRESSIVE METAL