Unexpect playing with Nile, Suicide Silence, The Faceless and Warbringer at Peabody’s

Friday, 7 p.m.

$17 in advance, $20 day of show

The music arena is plagued with stereotypes. There will always be the individual who listens to music cross-armed unless it’s his or her elite genre. Granted, the criticism may be warranted; however, no music should be brushed off immediately because of the miles between it and one’s particular taste.

This is the message of Unexpect bassist ChaotH who said the ultimate goal of his seven-person goth/black metal band is open-mindedness.

“People shouldn’t always watch music with a raised eyebrow, thinking they only like one kind of music,” he said. “Don’t be afraid to be inspired by every kind of art form, every kind of music.”

ChaotH knows his branch of metal music is different from any incarnation of the mainstream.

“Metal music, itself, is different than most music,” he said. “We try to make our music different than metal. We’re the underground of the underground. We are always the weirdos of the lineup, even if we play with weird metal bands.”

Unexpect’s oddity is showcased at live shows where the members create stage characters with fake names, ChaotH for example, to vibe with the music’s imagery. The band doesn’t take the names so seriously as to call each other these names, only fans and media call them the fa‡ade names. Other members of the band are syriaK (guitar, vocals), Artagoth (guitar, vocals), Exod (keyboard, samples), Le’lindel (vocals), Landryx (drums) and Borboen (violin).

“The music is really conceptual. It wouldn’t be right to use our original names,” ChaotH said. “We put all of our craziness on stage because we don’t want that to be associated with our real name, so we create a character and make it do what we want.”

Unexpect has been using these characters a lot lately. They’ve only been home three weeks from touring since the new year.

ChaotH said he feels brain-dead from the touring but doesn’t mind. Music shares emotion and is a language that can hit closer to the human soul, he said.

“I don’t like words,” he said. “All life and art is inspiration. Music is another form of art. That’s what Victor Wooten believes; that’s why I love him.”

ChaotH looks to bassist Victor Wooten, of Béla Fleck and the Flecktones, for musical inspiration but also philosophical views. It’s important, ChaotH said, to expand others’ minds to seek other forms of art.

“It’s easy in our world to get a narrow vision of life, but the message is if you get out of a comfort zone and go elsewhere, you’ll get stronger mentally,” he said. “People have to be aware of what they can do, and what the possibilities of human life are.”

Contact all reporter Brenna McNamara at [email protected].