Uneven Structure -- La Partition

7/10

2017's La Partition proves that, six years after releasing the greatest prog metal album of the 10's, Uneven Structure aren't sure which direction to head. This album often sounds like the band throwing everything at the wall to see what will stick. The result is a work with plenty of standout moments that nevertheless doesn't quite hold together. The band's major gambit here is winnowing away a lot of the heavier moments from their overall sound. Unfortunately, in those moments' place are less interesting, mostly midtempo, mid-energy passages, which lean heavily on multi-layered waves of sound. This results in a loss of the aforementioned masterpiece Februus' perfect dynamic balance. There's just so much going on throughout La Partition's audio soundscape, and not quite enough space. Unfortunately, this also means that vocalist, Matthieu Romarin, has to do a sort of constant sing, non-melodic croon to keep pace. Still, repeat listens begin to reveal cool part after cool part, from the nice little bass interlude before "Incube"'s mid-song build, the neck-cracking riff four minutes into the heaviest track on the album, "Funamule," or the surprisingly delicious, out of nowhere nu-metal riff halfway through "Your Scent." There's quite a lot to unpack here, and unfortunately, to mix my metaphors, a little too high a ratio of ruffage to meat, but this meal's overall fairly tasty.


2017 Long Branch Records
1. Alkaline Throat 04:31
2. Brazen Tongue 06:02
3. Crystal Teeth 03:40
4. Groomed And Resting 00:39
5. Incube 07:32
6. Succube 05:30
7. Funambule 05:18
8. Greeted And Dining 01:44
9. The Bait 07:52
10. Our Embrace 07:31
11. Your Scent 06:03