Unexpect (often stylized as uneXpect, or unexpecT, and UnexpecT) was a Canadian

avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...

extreme metal Extreme metal is a loosely defined umbrella term for a number of related heavy metal music subgenres that have developed since the early 1980s. It has been defined as a "cluster of metal subgenres characterized by sonic, verbal, and visual tran ...

band from

Montréal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-p ...

, featuring a unique amalgamation of different metal subgenres like

progressive metal Progressive metal (sometimes shortened to prog metal) is a broad :Fusion music genres, fusion music genre melding heavy metal music, heavy metal and progressive rock, combining the loud "aggression" and amplified electric guitar, guitar-driven s ...

death metal Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep growling vocals; aggressive, powerful drumming, feat ...

black metal Black metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include Tempo#Beats per minute, fast tempos, a Screaming (music)#Black metal, shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted Electric guitar, guitars played with t ...

and melodic heavy metal, and of other styles of music including European classical,

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

gypsy jazz Gypsy jazz (also known as gypsy swing, jazz manouche or hot club-style jazz) is a style of small-group jazz originating from the Romani guitarist Jean "Django" Reinhardt (1910–53), in conjunction with the French swing violinist Stéphane Gr ...

, electro,

ambient Ambient or Ambiance or Ambience may refer to: Music and sound * Ambience (sound recording), also known as atmospheres or backgrounds * Ambient music, a genre of music that puts an emphasis on tone and atmosphere * ''Ambient'' (album), by Moby * ...

noise Noise is unwanted sound considered unpleasant, loud or disruptive to hearing. From a physics standpoint, there is no distinction between noise and desired sound, as both are vibrations through a medium, such as air or water. The difference arise ...

, and

circus music Circus music (also known as carnival music) is any sort of music that is played to accompany a circus, and also music written that emulates its general style. Popular music would also often get arranged for the circus band, as well as waltzes, fox ...

. The band's debut album, ''

Utopia A utopia ( ) typically describes an imaginary community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia (book), Utopia'', describing a fictional ...

'', was independently released. The band only had word of mouth and the Internet to market the work. With unorthodox distribution and online support, the album sold successfully. They released their two following albums via

The End Records The End Records is a record label in Manhattan that specializes in rock, heavy metal, indie, and electronic music. Early years (1998–2005) The End Records was founded by Andreas Katsambas in Pasadena, California, with the goal of helping sm ...

, before returning to independent releases.

History

Two of the founding members had a long tenure with the band: Artagoth and SyriaK. Unexpect recorded their first album, ''

'', in 1998, and released it in 1999 independently. The 2003 EP '' _We, Invaders'' was released in November 2003 on the Canadian label

Galy Records Galy Records is a Canadian independent record label based in Verdun, Quebec, founded by Eric Galy in 2002. The label includes albums released for bands such as Dead Brain Cells, Neuraxis, Despised Icon, Gorguts, Unexpect, Infernäl Mäjesty, Anvi ...

. They then signed with New York-based

and the band's second album '' In a Flesh Aquarium'' was released on August 22, 2006, in North America. Unexpect released their third album, ''Fables of the Sleepless Empire'', on May 31, 2011. The band won the 7th annual Independent Music Awards Vox Pop vote for best Hard Rock/Metal Album with ''In a Flesh Aquarium''. On August 22, 2015, after the band had been inactive for almost three years, and with few updates, an announcement was made on their official

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

page stating the members had decided to disband for good and pursue their own personal musical endeavours.

Members

Last line-up * Eryk "Syriak" Chapados –

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of t ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

(1996–2015) (ex-Ekinox, ex-Magister Dixit) * Stéphane "Artagoth" English – lead vocals, guitar (1996–2015) * Roxanne "Leïlindel" Hegyesy – lead vocals (2001–2015) * Frédérick "ChaotH" Filiatrault –

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

(2001–2015) (Humanoid) * Landryx –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

(2004–2015) (ex-Decadawn, ex-Eclipse Prophecy) * Blaise Borboën-Léonard –

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

(2007–2015) Session members * Nathalie Duchesne - additional violin,

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...

(2003–2015) * Stéphanie Colerette - additional violin, cello (2003–2015) * Amélie Blanchette -

clarinet The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches ...

(2006–2015) Former members * Véronique "Elda" Michaud – lead vocals (1996–2001) * Mathieu "Zircon" Phaneuf – bass (1996–2001) * Olivier "Merzenya" Genest –

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

(1996–2001) * Anthony Trujillo – drums (2002) * Dasnos – drums (2003) * Charles "Le Bateleur" Crépeau – violin (1996–2006) * Stéphane "ExoD" Primeau – drums (1996-2002), keyboards,

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

, sampling (2002-2010)

Timeline

ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:20 PlotArea = left:60 bottom:80 top:5 right:10 Alignbars = justify DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1996 till:01/01/2016 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy Colors = id:vocals value:red legend:Vocals id:violin value:drabgreen legend:Violin id:guitar value:green legend:Guitar id:keyboards value:purple legend:Keyboards id:bass value:blue legend:Bass id:drums value:orange legend:Drums id:lines1 value:black legend:Studio_release id:bars value:gray(0.95) BackgroundColors = bars:bars Legend = orientation:vertical position:bottom columns:4 ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:2 start:1996 ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:1 start:1997 BarData = bar:Elda text:Elda bar:Leïlindel text:Leïlindel bar:LeBateleur text:Le Bateleur bar:Blaise text:Blaise bar:Syriak text:Syriak bar:Artagoth text:Artagoth bar:Merzenya text:Merzenya bar:Zircon text:Zircon bar:ChaotH text:ChaotH bar:ExoD text:ExoD bar:Anthony text:Anthony bar:Dasnos text:Dasnos bar:Landryx text:Landryx PlotData= width:11 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(10,-4) bar:Elda from:start till:01/01/2001 color:vocals bar:Leïlindel from:01/01/2001 till:end color:vocals bar:Syriak from:start till:end color:guitar bar:Syriak from:start till:end color:vocals width:3 bar:Artagoth from:start till:end color:guitar bar:Artagoth from:start till:end color:vocals width:3 bar:Zircon from:start till:01/01/2001 color:bass bar:ChaotH from:01/01/2001 till:end color:bass bar:Merzenya from:start till:01/01/2001 color:keyboards bar:ExoD from:start till:01/01/2002 color:drums bar:ExoD from:01/01/2002 till:01/01/2011 color:keyboards bar:Anthony from:01/01/2002 till:01/01/2003 color:drums bar:Dasnos from:01/01/2003 till:01/01/2004 color:drums bar:Landryx from:01/01/2004 till:end color:drums bar:LeBateleur from:start till:01/01/2007 color:violin bar:Blaise from:01/01/2007 till:end color:violin LineData= at:01/01/1999 color:lines1 layer:back at:11/01/2003 at:08/22/2006 at:05/31/2011

Discography

* ''

'' (1999, self-released) * '' _wE, Invaders'' EP (2003, Galy Records; distributed by

) * '' In a Flesh Aquarium'' (2006,

) * '' Fables of the Sleepless Empire'' (2011, self-released)

References

External links

*
archived
on July 28, 2015
UneXpect
at

{{Authority control Canadian progressive metal musical groups Avant-garde metal musical groups Musical groups from Montreal Musical groups established in 1996 Musical groups disestablished in 2015 1996 establishments in Quebec 2015 disestablishments in Quebec