Review
Uneven Structure
Februus

Basick (2011) Sarah

Uneven Structure – Februus cover artwork
Uneven Structure – Februus — Basick, 2011


It takes a lot of chutzpah to have a double-disc debut. That doesn't seem to faze French/Swedish band Uneven Structure, as proven by their debut release on Basick records, the 90-minute opus Februus.

The first disc is one 55 minute unbroken suite. It takes a lot of cues from the thick, layered ambiance of bands like Dirge and the deep-seated spaciness of Junius, resulting in one of the more emotionally raw performances in the genre. Unfortunately, it's not terribly original from a compositional standpoint--I could swear I've heard some of these riffs before in TesseracT songs, and it's hard not to hear Vildhjarta in some of their cleaner riffs. That being said, Uneven Structure have still created an album that manages to stand out amongst the chaff of the genre. It's incredibly difficult not to get your groove on when they break out their inescapable Meshuggah-like grooves, like on the tracks "Awaken" or "Frost". And when the band really hits their stride, they manage to produce some amazingly cathartic moments--"Finale" is absolutely breathtaking in its frosty beauty, and "Plenitude" features some of the rawest Gojira-esque brutality I've heard in a long while.

One thing readily noticeable about the first disc are the frequent ambient breaks. Uneven Structure are very forward about promoting both aspects of their sound (much like Opeth), and as such, the second disc consists solely of three extended ambient tracks. This half of the album was actually much more interesting to me than the first half. Though I don't listen to enough of the genre to consider myself a worthy judge of it, I do enjoy purely ambient music on occasion. The icy overtones that pepper the first half of the album actually stand up rather superbly on their own. "Winds from Untold Memories", for example, is every bit as chilling and evocative as its title implies. Though when I first checked out the album I was expecting three epic-length slices of math metal, I was actually quite happily surprised with these tracks.

Though I think the second half is a few steps ahead of the first in terms of quality, Februus is nonetheless a surprisingly solid debut. It is clear Uneven Structure have matured since their first EP 8, and I can only hope that they continue to grow in the direction that this album hints at. It's not a classic, but Uneven Structure have proven that they are a cut above their peers.

7.5 / 10Sarah • December 5, 2011

Uneven Structure – Februus cover artwork
Uneven Structure – Februus — Basick, 2011

Related news

Recently-posted album reviews

Personality Cult

Dilated
Dirtnap (2025)

I had a hard time starting this review. I can’t help coming back to the fact that it sounds like Marked Men. It does, maybe intentionally so, as Dilated is the second of Personality Cult’s albums that is produced by Jeff Burke of Marked Men and Radioactivity. But I don’t necessarily like to say a band sounds like another band … Read more

Various Artists

Her Head's On Fire/Arms Like Roses - Split
Double Helix (2025)

Her Head’s On Fire (NY, NY) and Arms Like Roses (New Haven, CT) team up on this split 7” with two new tracks (one each band) of post-hardcore tunes that are both massive and melodic in their own distinct ways. "Universal" is the track from Her Head’s On Fire. Recorded by the band’s guitarist Jeff Dean, "Universal" came from the … Read more

Dead Bars

All Dead Bars Go To Heaven
Iodine (2025)

Dead Bars has a unique talent of taking the everyday, the experiences you see and live all the time, and shining a new light on them to make them personal and interesting. I've written about it before, yet it's my job to say this again and to make it interesting. It's what Dead Bars does, so it only seems fitting … Read more