Univers Zéro are an instrumental Belgian band known for playing dark music heavily influenced by 20th century chamber music. The band was formed in 1974 by drummer Daniel Denis. For a time they were part of a musical movement called Rock in Opposition (RIO) which strove to create dense challenging music, a direct contrast to the disco and punk music being produced in the late 1970s. Obvious early influences were Bartok and Stravinsky however the band also cited less well known composers such as Albert Huybrechts, who was also Belgian. Rock in Opposition refers to a group of bands in the seventies united by their leftist political message and experimental progressive rock, including: Henry Cow (England) Stormy Six (Italy) Samla Mammas Manna (Sweden) Univers Zero (Belgium) Etron Fou Leloublan See also: Chris Cutler External links RIO Categories: Stub ... Discothèque redirects here. ... Punk rock is an anti-establishment music movement beginning around 1976 (although precursors can be found several years earlier), exemplified and popularised by The Ramones, the Sex Pistols, The Clash and The Damned. ... B la Bart k (March 25, 1881 – September 26, 1945) was a composer, pianist and collector of East European folk music. ... Igor Fyodorovitch Stravinsky (Russian: ) (June 17, 1882 – April 6, 1971) was Russian composer of modern classical music. ...

Their early albums were almost entirely acoustic but with later releases their sound became more electric. In 1977 they released their first album 1313 on which the members played with a heavy rock and roll approach despite the fact that the instrumentation was largely acoustic. This is mostly due to the use of drums. Two years later the album Heresie proved to be even darker. It has been called some of the scariest music ever committed to record. Rock and roll (also spelled Rock n Roll, especially in its first decade), also called rock, is a form of popular music, usually featuring vocals (often with vocal harmony), electric guitars and a strong back beat; other instruments, such as the saxophone, are common in some styles. ...

Subsequent albums lightened the sound only slightly, but became ever more electric. Whereas early albums featured oboes, spinets, harmoniums and mellotrons their 1980s albums tended to rely more on synthesizer and electric guitar. Despite these changes their overall sound remained fairly consistent. Modern Oboe The Oboe is a musical instrument of the woodwind double reed family. ... A harpsichord is the general term for a family of European keyboard instruments, including the large instrument nowadays called a harpsichord, but also the smaller virginals, the muselar virginals and the spinet. ... This article is on the musical instrument; for information on other kinds of harmonia, see harmonium (disambiguation). ... The Mellotron is an electromechanical polyphonic keyboard musical instrument originally developed and built in Birmingham, England in the early 1960s. ... A classic FM synthesizer, the Yamaha DX7. ... An electric guitar is a type of guitar with a solid or semi-solid body that utilizes electromagnetic pickups to convert the vibration of the steel-cored strings into electrical current. ...

The group disbanded in 1987, but reformed in 1999. In the interim drummer Daniel Denis released two solo albums and joined Art Zoyd, a similar band from France. Since 1999, Univers Zéro have released three albums. Fans cite that these albums have lost some of the oppressing feel of the early material, and that the songs are generally much shorter, but they were nevertheless received enthusiastically.

Other than the above mentioned Art Zoyd there are not many similar groups. Some that are remotely similar include Apocalyptica (more heavy metal influenced), Bohren & Der Club of Gore (more jazzy), After Crying and Rachel's (both of which are much lighter in tone). Perttu Kivilaakso, Paavo Lötjönen, Eicca Toppinen - Apocalyptica Apocalyptica is a Finnish music band of three (formerly four) classically educated cellists. ... Heavy metals, in chemistry, are chemical elements of a particular range of atomic weights. ... Bohren & Der Club of Gore are a band founded in 1986 in Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany by Thorsten Benning, Morten Gass, Robin Rodenberg und Reiner Henseleit. ... Jazz is a musical art form characterized by blue notes, syncopation, swing, call and response, polyrhythms, and improvisation. ... Rachels is an experimental indie rock group with three members, Jason Noble, Christian Frederickson, and Rachel Grimes. ...

Discography

• 1313 (1977)
• Heresie (1979)
• Ceux du Dehors (1981)
• Crawling Wind EP (1983)
• UZED (1984)
• Heatwave (1986)
• The Hard Quest (1999)
• Rhythmix (2002)
• Implosion (2004)