There are bands that give you the listening pleasure you seek in progressive music with every release and, for me, the Quebecers of 'Huis' are one of them. Whether it's the albums of 'Mystery' or 'Huis', I am an unconditional fan of these two bands that have in common their guitarist 'Michel St-Père' who is at the origin of both projects. Each of them has their own style by offering us progressive rock with long developments, the two being complementary, 'Huis' being closer to bands like 'Arena' and 'Mystery' bringing a more epic symphonic side. This new baby 'In the Face of the Unknown' from the Quebecers is no exception to the rule and contains 8 compositions for 70 minutes of listening with 7 compositions each exceeding 7 minutes.
'Chaos' opens the ball with a long development of almost 12 minutes and takes us on a first progressive journey with many rhythmic changes throughout the title, the very beautiful ethereal introduction giving way to a long melodic sung part in which 'Sylvain Descôteaux' offers us a first masterful vocal performance by adapting his singing to the intensity of the moment. Next comes 'Paralyzed' which also begins calmly in a 'Floydian' atmosphere ('Meddle' period), then, it is again a remarkable progressive journey that we happily travel by letting ourselves go to the changes of intensity and tempo, the beautiful melodic lines bringing a fairly immediate accessibility and the finale falling back into a moving piano/vocal duet. Another admirable composition with 'Westminster Bridge' which gains momentum in the introduction, led by an energetic rhythm section which then puts itself at the service of the different changes of tempo and intensity, the whole alternating with very beautiful breaks with magnificent vocal harmonies. And what about the next track 'Requiem for the Last One' which is almost 10 minutes long and is still a model of the progressive genre with a long instrumental introduction that takes the time to prepare the sung parts which are admirable thanks to catchy melodic lines and beautiful vocal arrangements that delicately tickle your senses to which we can add the remarkable keyboard and guitar solos in the second part of the track.
We come to 'Crossroads' which is for me my favorite of the album, and which is the only track that was composed by 'Michel St-Pierre', 'Sylvain Descôteaux' and 'Michel Joncas' sharing the other 7. This is certainly the most symphonic composition that comes closest to the style of 'Mystery': from the first piano chords, I am in heaven with this beginning that reminds me of the introduction of 'Dream On' by Aerosmith' but, very quickly, the very beautiful melody magnified by the poignant singing of 'Sylvain Descôteaux' propels you directly onto a little cloud, then, the title takes flight with the arrival of the electric instruments in a slow majestic procession with deep bass leading to the chorus of an extraordinary emotional force, the climax of this composition being reached with the masterful guitar solo of 'Michel St-Père' at the beginning of the second part and the finale accelerating the tempo beautifully completing this progressive gem. The magnificent ballad 'The Miracle' is then very well placed to bring a beautiful moment of escape and appeasement after all the emotion released by the previous title. Back to refined and imaginative progressive with 'Burning and Drowning' which, after an introduction presenting many tensions and relaxations with an accompaniment in the atmosphere of a 'Run Like Hell' by the 'Floyds', unfolds a light and catchy melody alternating sung parts and melodious guitar and keyboard solos, then, our beautiful progressive journey ends with the 10 minutes of 'Failing' which shows one last time the talent of this band to offer us progressive constructions in which it is good to get lost and which, like any title of this style, requires several listens to fully tame all the nooks and crannies.
In summary, this fourth album from the Quebecers of 'Huis' confirms that they are part of the major contemporary progressive bands and that 'In the Face of the Unknown' should, without a doubt, be one of the major albums of the year 2024, a year that has already been very rich in this style of music. For my part, it has already joined my ideal progressive music collection... | |
