Vuvr

Although there seem to be a lot of jazz-metal fusion bands out there these days, there are very few that manage to maintain much real darkness in their music. Vuvr is a glorious exception-- even the pure jazz moments are often tinged with an eerie atmosphere. This ability to play very technical and diverse music while keeping a strong sense of atmosphere really sets Vuvr apart. They are one of the weirdest products of the great and very weird Czech metal scene. The music has a certain complexity and strangeness to it that I haven't really heard anywhere else. The guitars are often very heavy, but they are never straight-forward-- strange tones and arrangements are used thoughout, even in the heaviest moments. The vocals are generally of the low, gutteral variety, and fit very well with the music. This CD is tough to find, but the jazz-metal songs are worth the effort. Unfortunately, these songs only make up about 50% of the album-- the rest is devoted to clean jazz meanderings, which are fairly engaging in themselves, but not really something I want to hear in a metal record. It gives the album as a whole an unfocused and disjointed feel. I love fusion in metal, and diverse influences, but I think there should be a significant proportion of metal in there. The long jazzy passages just seem a little out of place. I guess this wouldn't be such a problem if they were interspersed more with the metal, but as it is, they go on and on, and leave me a little bored. Even with this flaw, though, this is a very unique album-- essential for anyone who likes the subgenre of avant-garde/ jazz-influenced extreme metal.
(с) Encyclopaedia Metallum