These Frenchmen have been around since 2008, since then they have released an ep and two albums, including this one. Promoting their music as having different universes and styles, this to them seems to be a good thing. For me this was the source of the problem.
I should have realised that the over-elaborate prog-tech metal intro was the shape of things to come. What we have here is modern metal in all its forms. It’s highly technical without sticking to any particular script, with complex patterns. “Invisible Cages” came across as a bit of Killswitch, a bit of Soilwork and a tech metal band of your choice. Basically Until the Uprising are trying to do everything. The clean vocals, which alternate with screams, are not great and too low in the mix. “Invisible Cages” is not a hooky song, a characteristic which repeated itself. “Embrace the Uncertainty” amounts to technical djent widdlery, as if this alone was going to delight us. I imagined seeing this band at something like UK Tech Fest. They would be anonymous in amongst all the similar bands. In fairness, the music has some balls and it has punch, but it is shapeless. Throwing emo vocals into the metalcore mix just makes it worse. By “Another Dimension”, I realised that I didn’t know what the vocalist was whining on about and didn’t care either. Technically it’s fine but this is all like paying random homage to modern metal genres without substance or direction. France has been the origin of some very good modern metal bands, among them Gojira, Ananta and Uneven Structure, but Until the Uprising isn’t one of them on the basis of “Out of Time”. “Another Dimension” pauses momentarily for drama, but there is no drama. It’s disorder for no reason.
After the utterly bland and appropriately titled “Nothingness”, there is a hint of mystery about “Seize Your Life” but no amount of screams or prog djentiness can get away from the fact that there has to be some backbone. Still, this one isn’t all bad, and the first part of the two part title track is good, blending the colourful instrumentals into the song in a controlled way. This is the very thing we’ve been missing. All too often in the quest to tick off every genre and style, no time is spent developing images. Part two of the title track barely hangs on, as the plethora of idea merely results in an amorphous mass.
Maybe this is a generational thing, but I would say that I am not averse to the musical styles which are presented to them here, just I don’t like it when they’re all thrown in without apparent co-ordination. I can only compare the offer of “Out of Time” as being like an enticing menu, but the food doesn’t taste of anything.
(3/10 Andrew Doherty)
https://www.facebook.com/UTUband
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