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Unfragment - Vices And Verses
Release: 2005Label: Self-released
By: Anders
Posted: Apr 13, 2006
This is the new album from the French death metal band Unfragment, and as I understand the second full length in total. This is my first encounter with the band and their name. Melodic yet brutal death metal driven by solid guitar-work and pounding programmed drumming.
The music catches on from the beginning, there are some good hooks, which are melted into the songs with some quite chaotic and messy guitar leads going on all the time. The main-riffs are driving the music forward and keep the attention, while the leads that always are floating around on top of the rhythm, are quite hard to keep track on. The band are delivering some very technical guitar play, which once in a while becomes too much and creates headaches instead of a lust for headbanging. That said the displayed guitar-work is really well-made and shows that the guitarist in the band Fabian Bartaud is having some massive skills on the axe, though it tends to become too much. The programmed drums don't make it much better, when havoc really is unleashed. Mostly the drums are hitting it along the rhythm, delivering furious double-kick attacks and a blasting snare-drum, though once in a while, often together with the guitar delivering neck-breaking madness, the drums delivers break upon break, together with odd signatures, which tend to throw ones attention off, as it gets too much of the good. The vocals from Jérôme Guibert is mostly a good and solid growl, with emotion and power, though it is best when it is kept as a plain growl, the variations used here and there, doesn't always work out for the best. The heavy bass delivered by Antonio Michot has a strange place in the mix, sometimes hidden, at other times on top of the lead guitar as in the track 'Alésia' and that sounds strange to be honest. The play is good, no doubt about that, though it could have been placed better in the overall mix, to make the sound more homogeneous and fluid throughout the album. The dark and somewhat complex production does push the instruments too much together and makes the album hard to listen to, when a lot is going on at the same time, and a lot is often going on.
This album is a good and interesting effort from Unfragment, no doubt about that, even though one has to digest it in small doses, if one wants to avoid an overload of brutality and technicality. A solid and brutal death metal album, with a lot of good features and details, showing a band on their way up, lacking a direction or perhaps perfection to execute it totally. A real drummer and a better production would do a lot, though even without I am pretty sure that there is a way for this band, as they have some great and interesting ideas.
The music catches on from the beginning, there are some good hooks, which are melted into the songs with some quite chaotic and messy guitar leads going on all the time. The main-riffs are driving the music forward and keep the attention, while the leads that always are floating around on top of the rhythm, are quite hard to keep track on. The band are delivering some very technical guitar play, which once in a while becomes too much and creates headaches instead of a lust for headbanging. That said the displayed guitar-work is really well-made and shows that the guitarist in the band Fabian Bartaud is having some massive skills on the axe, though it tends to become too much. The programmed drums don't make it much better, when havoc really is unleashed. Mostly the drums are hitting it along the rhythm, delivering furious double-kick attacks and a blasting snare-drum, though once in a while, often together with the guitar delivering neck-breaking madness, the drums delivers break upon break, together with odd signatures, which tend to throw ones attention off, as it gets too much of the good. The vocals from Jérôme Guibert is mostly a good and solid growl, with emotion and power, though it is best when it is kept as a plain growl, the variations used here and there, doesn't always work out for the best. The heavy bass delivered by Antonio Michot has a strange place in the mix, sometimes hidden, at other times on top of the lead guitar as in the track 'Alésia' and that sounds strange to be honest. The play is good, no doubt about that, though it could have been placed better in the overall mix, to make the sound more homogeneous and fluid throughout the album. The dark and somewhat complex production does push the instruments too much together and makes the album hard to listen to, when a lot is going on at the same time, and a lot is often going on.
This album is a good and interesting effort from Unfragment, no doubt about that, even though one has to digest it in small doses, if one wants to avoid an overload of brutality and technicality. A solid and brutal death metal album, with a lot of good features and details, showing a band on their way up, lacking a direction or perhaps perfection to execute it totally. A real drummer and a better production would do a lot, though even without I am pretty sure that there is a way for this band, as they have some great and interesting ideas.
Rating: 5/10
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