50 Best Hard Rock & Heavy Metal Albums Of 2017
21. Uneven Structure – La Partition
If Gojira and TesseracT were to have a beautiful, musical baby, that little bundle of joy would be the French experimentalists Uneven Structure, whose unique blends of polyrhythms, tonality and brutality on their sophomore disc La Partition made it one of the best albums of 2017.
Inhabiting a centre spot on the Venn diagram between ambient melodies and Meshuggah-esque grooves, La Partition is a perfect summary of the state of modern prog metal as a whole. Enchanting and destructive, the vocals of Matthieu Romarin alternating between the cleanest of the clean and the lowest of screams.
The three layers of guitar courtesy of Igor Omodei, Jérôme Colombelli and Steeves Hostin also a great way to explain La Partition weight and diversity, riffs like those at the start of “Brazen Tongue” blasting out avant-garde time signatures with the speed and ferocity of gunfire. The bass of co-founder Benoit Friedrich is similarly dynamic, dominating the opening of “Crystal Teeth” and perfectly punctuating every unpredictable rhythm or time signature that Uneven Structre are able to toss our way.
April saw the release of this “djent”-inspired titan, making La Partition the first full-length release from Uneven Structure in five-and-a-half years. However, with its eleven cuts of sheer, impressive rock at its disposal, the record proved worth the wait, receiving acclaim from impatient fans and newcomers alike.