Artist: Present
Label: Cuneiform
Released: 1998
Rating: 4.3/5
With Certitudes, Present finally made their return to the music scene after a long absence. This time the lineup even features two members of Univers Zero: besides drummer Daniel Denis, bassist Guy Segers is on board too. Because of that, many people thought there might even be a chance of Trigaux going back to Univers Zero. Some also reckon Certitudes is a lost Univers Zero album, but I wouldn’t agree, since Denis didn’t contribute to the writing here. Trigaux was behind everything (except for Ex-Tango, which is Rochette’s). Anyone who expected a Univers Zero reunion with Trigaux got it badly wrong. Exactly the opposite happened. Denis left the band after this album, and he and Trigaux grew more and more estranged. By the next album, Present had changed their lineup completely, with only father and son left. Certitudes was also the reason for their first American tour, which was followed by the release of the live album A Great Inhumane Adventure.
If I could borrow Star Wars terminology for a moment, I’d say that neo and symphonic bands belong to the light side, while the RIO bands belong to the dark side, and Present are definitely one of the darkest among them. Still, it’s not all as black and white as in the movies. You’d do Trigaux an injustice by calling his music evil. The fact is that he doesn’t shy away from gloomy themes, he’s actually drawn to them. And there’s nothing wrong with that. The world can be cruel, and people even more so.
Compared to Univers Zero, Present are a much less diverse outfit. There are fewer winds and strings, and the writing itself is a lot less colorful. There’s a lot more repetition, long stretches where just a single melody rules. The songs are easier to follow, but I still wouldn’t call them simple. There are plenty of atonal chords and dissonance, which Univers Zero already used quite a lot. The pieces are mostly layered and fairly complex, but if you’re used to Univers Zero, it feels like child’s play. Then again, maybe it isn’t really fair to compare Present with them at all. This is a different, more direct, rock-oriented approach. Trigaux didn’t even want them to sound like his former band. You have to give him credit for creating something original, and I’m glad he didn’t just copy patterns from Univers Zero.
You can feel a strong influence of classical music, especially the avant-garde and minimalist stuff from the twentieth century. Most of the time the piano takes the lead, with a pretty hard-edged guitar for contrast, which, together with the drums and bass, proves this is still more of a rock band. You can hear hints of other genres too, for example the tango on the track Ex-Tango, which could also be called Tango in opposition, since it sounds like a twisted tango better suited to a horror movie.
With Present, Roger Trigaux was also able to fulfill his urge to write lyrics. The sung parts make up only a small portion of the songs, but they matter for the overall picture, since with their dark themes they add one more dimension to compositions that are already insane. Trigaux mostly talks about human delusions, especially the obsession with imaginary and man-made gods. The message of the lyrics is mainly that there’s a lot of ugliness and suffering in this world, and that we mustn’t shut our eyes to it. Trigaux’s English is quite limited, but he makes good use of what he has and managed to create effective lyrics with important messages.
It may be true that there are more vocals on this album than on any other Present record, and it’s also true that they don’t have a “real” singer this time, but the sung parts aren’t distracting, because they knew how to make the most of the abilities they have. Trigaux’s rough, raspy voice makes for an interesting contrast with his son’s clean vocals.
Above all, Present want to point out that everyone has evil inside them. Unlike many other bands, they dare to speak about it. They aren’t afraid to face their own demons and find catharsis in the process. There’s beauty hidden in evil, and that’s exactly what Present know how to show. The combination of classical and rock, avant-garde and tango, all of it proves that you shouldn’t judge things by their appearance, because there’s always something else hiding inside. Whether that’s evil or goodness, you decide for yourself.
Lineup
– Roger Trigaux: guitar, vocals, keyboards
– Reginald Trigaux: guitar, vocals
– Daniel Denis: drums, vocals
– Alain Rochette: piano, keyboards
– Guy Segers: bass
Production
Present
Track list
1. Delusions 14:48
2. May Day 10:00
3. The Sense Of Life 11:08
4. Ex-Tango 3:46
Album length: 39:42
