Huis – In the Face of the Unknown (2024)

As can be seen in my list of favourite bands, the Canadian band Huis is in the absolute leading group and therefore the expectations for the new album In the Face of the Unknown were very high. And I can already tell you, that was entirely justified.

My history with this band starts at a pre-release party of a Knight Area album where a few Canadian fans played along. Indeed, this was the origin of the band with the somewhat strange name. For those who don't know yet: Huis means something like entrance door in French. Second album Neither in Heaven....is one of my all-time favourites in prog rock. But the penultimate album Abandoned is also really beautiful, so bring it on......

First of all, a substantial change, Martin Plante is the new drummer and that really makes a significant difference because his style is a bit heavier than the also excellent William Regnier. It rocks a bit more and so it is clear once again that the influence of a drummer is greater than is often assumed. Are we dealing with a much heavier album than the previous three? No, not really, but there is a clearly greater dynamic to be detected and the quiet, dreamy passages are perfectly alternated with pure prog rock. There are very few bands that can do this so perfectly because there are simply no weak songs on this album. Almost all songs have a more than average length and as often this means that there is room for instrumental parts and in the case of Huis also beautiful solos on guitar and keyboards. There are so many of them, one is even more beautiful than the other and that is not surprising when you consider that Michel St-Pere (Mystery) on guitar and Johnny Maz on keys are the musicians. Pure class

Are the vocal parts drowning in all this instrumental display? On the contrary, Sylvain Descoteaux is one of the better singers in our genre and he seems to be getting better by the album. The confidence and presence with which he sings make this album more than complete. We would almost forget (not really), mastermind and bassist Michel Joncas who is partly responsible for all the compositions and makes his bass roar at exactly the right moment. Do you notice that I am rather enthusiastic?

There are eight songs on In the Face of the Unknown and I was going to discuss them track by track but I'm not going to do that, I've changed my mind and I'll explain why. If I had carried out my original idea, the description of the individual songs would all have been pretty much the same. Don't worry, it's not a boring album without highlights but the basis of every track is so good that I'm going to make a weird comparison, should be possible, right? Think of this base as the bottom of a pie, one that is so delicious that it doesn't matter what else is on it, whipped cream, mon chou, mocha, apple, well you get the idea. Still, every cake tastes different and that's because of the variation within the toppings themselves. They bake, or if you prefer, play with the same basic ingredients, but the taste of the interpretation, in this case the delicious melodies, is different every time. Whether we take Crossroads or Paralyzed, we just find everything you are looking for as a prog lover, sensitive intros, the already mentioned heavenly solos, the sometimes sensitive and sometimes powerful vocals and of course complexity. However, the latter is never the goal but always the means and that is where a lot of bands go wrong in my opinion, but that's another discussion. The first track they released is Westminster Bridge and if I have to say anything at all, I would consider this to be the least song on the album but still very good. I often read that many reviewers label the music of Huis as AOR and that is not an insult of course, but the music generally goes too deep for that. But if there's a song that goes in that direction, it's the aforementioned song, just a bit more straightforward than the other tracks but with a very nice melody and of course a guitar solo. You sometimes wonder, how does Michel do that? The latest Mystery album, Redemption is full of those beautiful, almost singing solos and that is no different on In the Face of the Unknown. However, where a big difference with Mystery arises is the keyboards, which have much more influence on the sound of Huis. Of course Maz but also Descoteaux provide many beautiful decorations on the piano and keys and there are such beautiful solos on this album. Just listen to Requiem for the last One which is such a beautiful and complete song anyway.

I often find it difficult to go into detail about the texts, and that is mainly because they are often open to my own interpretation, and that is how it should be. That is no different now, but you could say that they are about the way in which we as humans deal with the challenges that life throws at us. Situations and memories cause certain feelings and sentiments and Sylvain is guaranteed to convey this to you with a lot of emotion. Generally, I know, but just experience your own feelings

The Miracle is actually the ballad of the album and the melody is really beautiful, sung with so much emotion and then that guitar...... Just a moment, I need to wipe away the drool.

The cover of the album is striking and beautiful. Symbolically, we see a woman walking through the water towards a bright light, the unknown. Beautiful but not spectacular.

Is there nothing to complain about, because as a right-minded Dutchman I can do that so well. Well actually very little, maybe the more rocky passages could contain a bit more originality but hey, if Deep Purple and Rush are among their mentioned influences you will hear that from time to time. But other than that I can only say one thing, go listen to this album and if it is possible buy the CD! Despite the beautiful, just released, album by Frant1c (A brand new World), review here :