Emotive and conceptual, Klone have once again broken new sonic ground and built further on their signature expansive sound. Since the release of Le Grand Voyage in 2019 , French art-rockers Klone have risen to new heights across the globe, touring in Europe ,USA , Australia , Mexico alongside the likes of Devin Townsend, Leprous, Riverside, Pain of Salvation, Gojira and blowing away festival crowds at Hellfest 2024, Prog Power USA, Midsummer Prog and Cruise to the Edge. Coming off the back of their phenomenal 2023 album ‘Meanwhile’, ‘The Unseen’ is a masterpiece of both performance and production that sees Klone wearing their years of experience proudly on their sleeves.
With every member and every instrument pushed to its expressive limit, ‘The Unseen’ has a might and intensity to it that, whilst sometimes abrasive, simultaneously feels natural, coherent and unified as the band move from motif and melody as one; guided as ever by the unmistakable voice and vision of Yann Ligner.
Lead single and album opener ‘Interlaced’ is a breathtaking journey through rich, rhythmic depths; chiming intertwined guitars give way to a soaring, free-jazz inspired saxophone solo as lyrics exploring moments that allow us to rediscover our youth establish the introspective themes of the album as a whole.
Elsewhere, eponymous track ‘The Unseen’ balances melancholy and optimism over a lilting, waltz-time groove before the band dial up the distortion and Ligner’s voice breaks with an outpouring of lyrical vulnerability whilst another standout track, ‘Magnetic’, is a defiant and direct ode to love with its simple yet undeniably effective structure building to a fist-pumping, pulse-racing crescendo.
With such an inimitable 25 years of music already behind them, it seems apt that ‘The Unseen’ is also Klone’s 10th full-length release. The album serves as a milestone that uses reflections on the past as a means of appreciating the beauty of the present, with the band employing their shared decades of creativity and collaboration to offer enlightening new perspectives on the here and now.
