Unexpect - In a Flesh Aquarium (2006)

Yes, I know there's a newer album - yes, I know it is just as good, if not better.  I'm getting there.  But we gotta start here, because this is where I met Unexpect.

Do you know who Unexpect is?  They're weird.  If Gojira was progressive, then Unexpect is, well...post-progressive?  Regressive?  All I know is they're fucking weird, and that's the way we like them.

Unexpect: taking dark cabaret back from the
socially awkward goths since 1996

Hailing from the almighty technical extreme metal wonderland,  the great Canada, where the viciousness of the winters is rivaled only by the ferocity of their kindhearted acceptance of all people and genial nature, Unexpect is anything but your average extreme metal band.  Case and point: their bass player, who goes by ChaotH, plays a fucking NINE string bass.

That neck is as thick as his...Canadian accent.
What were you thinking?

In a Flesh Aquarium, their first full length studio album that wasn't self-released, is an exploration of how many non-cohesive elements can be crammed into a single album of chaos.  Slap bass, violin, operatic female vocals, clarinet, electronic noise - it's hard to find something that the band doesn't use.  And I know what you're thinking: "That sounds like they're just copying [insert orchestral power metal band here]."  NO.  Nightwish can't do this shit.  This isn't power metal.  This is circusy, evil, confusing genius.

The album starts with "Chromatic Chimera" (no, not THAT Chimaira), which honestly is a beautiful piano piece.  The melody is consistent and accessible until it hits a weird, out of place chromatic walk down (go figure) at 0:27, and then all hell breaks loose at 0:55 (that's where they lose power metal kids).  Then, at 1:05, the circus shows up.  It's weird at first, and takes a little to get used to, especially for people looking for something brutal, but you can't listen to Unexpect without a healthy dose of self-awareness and satire.  They KNOW they're ridiculous.

The best part is, if you stick with the album, you hear some pretty phenomenal musicians do some incredible things.  "Chromatic Chimera" sports a pleasant use of musical saw and constant, beautiful piano work, and "Desert Urbania" has one of my favorite guitar solos of all time starting at 5:44 - I can't even imagine the theory at work in the note choice for every one of his damn sweeps.  "Silence 01101071" acts as a filler track, but actually adds a totally different realm to the album, using electronic drums and dissonante violin to make you feel like your computer is gonna fuck you up.  And then, the climax of the album in all its weirdness: "Psychic Jugglers" begins with an epic string intro that makes every power metal band shit itself.  Seriously, we're talking marimba, strings, timpani, synth, death growls, chaotic shouting...honestly, when the intro ends at 0:55 you feel like you may have been possessed.

Self-portrait after the first
0:55 of "Psychic Jugglers"

So check it out.  A review of their newest album is coming, cause it's great too.  Unexpect deserves the title avant-garde, and you'll find that out.  I think their sound was best described by a friend of mine's mother: she complained that the sounded like hundreds of demons dancing around a fire.  You'll see.