Progressive rock can be defined in many ways but one of my favorites is with the tension between a frenetic, jittery energy and sweet, soothing melody. Think King Crimson, where you never know which the band will choose from and often get both: the staccato, chopped up riff, or the dreamy, pleasing melody. This creates a tension, a contrast between the two sounds that, when wielded well, generates an inimitable energy and mood. Sans Froid are experts at doing just that, marrying dense, complex, unpredictable instrumentation and unexpected vocal phrases with a "classic" melodic approach. The end result is Back Into the Womb, an album that covers the spaces between heavy, muscular progressive rock and fragile, warm art rock.
"Go On", the track which opens the album, leaves us very little space before it introduces the first aspect of this sound. This is the track's excellent combo of the main guitar riff, punchy drums, and punctual bass. It creates that off-kilter vibe I mentioned earlier, that jittery feeling. The vocals follow suit but also quickly usher in the other mood, a more classical, melodic kind of approach on the track's first bridge. But here's the thing - that back and forth is not maintained. There is no A/B/A/B/C structure to this track. It gets smashed to pieces by this sudden turn that the instruments and especially the vocals take around at two minutes and fifteen. It's hard to overstate how much I love what happens there: the initially repetitive but then exquisitely explosive vocals, the deconstructed guitar line, and then the return of the big, muscular main riff.
The entire album is filled with these ideas, refusing to choose one style and instead hopping between groove, experimentation, emotiveness, abrasiveness and more. Throughout, the vocals lead the way. They're incredible, again channeling that contrast we opened on. Their basic timbre is very sweet but it often gets augmented by a throaty, full approach that works exceedingly well with the album's basic groove. But, as evinced on "Go On", Sans Froid are happy to manipulate them further, sometimes casting them in sweeping, "traditional" choruses and sometimes chopping them up and deploying them in non-standard ways while at others setting them as a melancholic, emotive, gentle dirge. The result is that their sound is the centerpiece of the album, tying everything together, but never becoming obvious or background noise.
Which also brings us, at the outset, full circle to the album's other brilliance: its production. Every instrument is meticulously placed where it needs to be and even on the album's busiest passages, every comes through beautifully. The bass is at the bottom but it never slips, always audible in its support. The drums hit very hard right where they should without overwhelming anything else. And the guitars are at time noisy and beefy but at others poignantly sharp and incisiveness. It serves to bring Sans Froid's ambition, which is substantial, to exquisite execution, bringing forth the musical vision in beautiful light.
Fans of progressive rock know how hard this is to achieve and also know the joy of discovering an album which does this well, an intricate album whose sound matches its composition. Back Into the Womb is that and more, an album from a band which I knew nothing about that does everything I love progressive rock for.