I have been a Univers Zero fan for quite some time now and I have explored almost every full length that they have released. My joy knew no bounds when I heard a few months back that they were going to release a new album in early january of 2010. Although I wasnt carrying loads of expectations this time considering how everything had went downhill for the band after Heatwave. The band split only to reunite later. But the comeback albums werent as exciting as the previous ones. Needless to say that Rhythmix and Implosion were more of a damp squib. 2009 saw a revival of avant-prog masters with Magma coming up with an excellent Ëmëhntëhtt-Ré. Just when I though that it would be an impossible task for any band to come up with an album better than that, Present came up with an even more better (probably their best career work?) album in the form of Barbaro (ma non troppo). 　　I managed to hear the samples of a few tracks on their website and I knew this was going to be an excellent one. While Heresie and Ceux du Dehors will still remain unmatched in terms of their sheer darkness, improvisation & excellent incorporation of Bartokian sound into the progressive rock sound that they played. This album is quite different from the usual Univers Zero we are used to. Although there are tracks on this album that will turn back the time and take you back to their dark and haunting era. "Warrior" is one of them. It has the same repititive haunting melodies reminiscent of La Falux. Same can be said about "Retour De Foire", "Straight Edge" and "Les Cercles d'Horus". But there are a few songs that are very much different from their style. While "Soubresauts" and "Les Kobolds" remind you a lot of mood elating melodies of Magma, you can also find a lil bit of Zappa touch on "Three Days". They have done a wonderful job in combining the jazzy prog rock with the chamber prog. "Earth Scream" sounds like a filler but it does a pretty wonderful job to take you from one phase of the album to the other while maintaining the gloomy atmosphere. 　　This is the band's first album in 5 years, and the effort they have put into it shows clearly. Well, This is just the 8th of January, Are we already looking at the album of the year in front of us? Maybe, Maybe, Just Maybe!