UNEXPECT — Utopia (review)

UNEXPECT — Utopia album cover Album · 1999 · Avant-garde Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
1.5/5 ·
UMUR
"Utopia" is the debut full-length studio album by Canadian avant garde metal act Unexpect. The album was self-released by the band in 1999. "Utopia" was released 7 years before Unexpect´s critically acclaimed breakthrough album "In a Flesh Aquarium (2006)". The band hadn´t been inactive in those 7 years though as they released an EP called "We, Invaders" in 2003.

The music on "Utopia" is unmistakably the sound of Unexpect. If you are familiar the avant garde metal style they play on "In a Flesh Aquarium" you won´t be surprised by how they sound on "Utopia". "Utopia" is just a pretty imature version of the music style on the excellent "In a Flesh Aquarium". Unexpect mix genres like thrash metal/ black metal/ death metal/ symphonic metal/ Avant garde and power metal which gives them their own unique sound. The vocal style is generally very aggressive but there are semi-operatic female vocals on the album too. The compositions are as mentioned a bit imature though and the album comes off inconsistent and a bit amaturish as a consequence of the songwriting but the musicianship on "Utopia" is also a bit shaky and some parts suffer quite a bit because of that.

The worst part of "Utopia" and the part that almost completely ruins my listening experience is the production though. The sound is weak, empty and seriously lacking power. The guitars sound powerless and the drums (which by the way are a bit to busy for comfort during some of the calm parts on the album) have an awful sound. The sound on the album is pretty much what I´d call demo quality and not of the good kind.

I´d say "Utopia" is a hardcore fan thing only. I´m not even sure the hardcore fans will enjoy this too much. Imature songwriting, bad sound production and shaky musicianship adds up to a 1.5 - 2 star rating.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
Xaxaar wrote:
more than 2 years ago
Yeah, I sadly agree. Don't listen to too much of this one nowadays...but their most recent two are great!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

Rot Stink Rip Death Metal
TOMBSTONER
Buy this album from MMA partners
Human Rosin Melodic Metalcore
HATE BREEDER
Buy this album from MMA partners
Through The Hell Hardcore Punk
ENEMY 906
Buy this album from MMA partners
Lightmatter: Rebirth Deathcore
EARTHGAZER
Buy this album from MMA partners
Eye Of Horus (Lightmatter EP Pt. 2) Deathcore
EARTHGAZER
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

Agremorta - Adrocitas (Official Lyric Video)
AGREMORTA
Bosh66· 4 days ago
Agremorta - Ploratus Umbra (Official Lyric Video)
AGREMORTA
Bosh66· 4 days ago
Agremorta - Vertex Membrana (Official Lyric Video)
AGREMORTA
Bosh66· 4 days ago
HAIL SPIRIT NOIR - The Temple Of Curved Space (Official Track Stream)
HAIL SPIRIT NOIR
adg211288· 5 days ago
In Sulfur - The Gate (OFFICIAL VIDEO) 2022
IN SULFUR
Bosh66· 5 days ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed