Vuur is a band that while new to the prog garden, has members with rich prog soil running through their veins. Anneke van Giersbergen is name not unfamiliar to many a proghead, having been vocalist for The Gathering and performing with Devin Townsend among others. Vuur recently released their debut album "In This Moment We Are Free - Cities" on the InsideOut label. Here Anneke sets out to cut her metal chops as it were, so let us queue up this latest and listen in...
The album opens with the cut "My Champion - Berlin." There is an immediate keyboard/guitar energy burst that rattles around inside your head like pinballs pushing the machine into "tilt." Anneke's vocals come through almost too smooth to partner with the mayhem that surrounds...much like an aria accompanying Dream Theater. The canvas is pelted with paint balloons of every hue--mostly the bright ones that eliminate shadows. Vuur emerges from the smoke and fire with a mad rush; should be an interesting show...
My second helping from the buffet is "Sail Away - Santiago." The adrenaline rush is still on as Vuur continues to thrust themselves at you with all the gusto of a typhoon...I pick up top notes of Curved Air and After Forever crashing through my headphones. The guitars strike fast and hit hard but do leave time for breathing (albeit intermittently) as the song carries on. Meanwhile the drums keep up a frenetic pace that leaves you gasping but still standing as the music winds down.
Liner Notes...hailing from the Netherlands, Vuur, or "Fire" in Dutch, has the appropriately coiffed, red haired Anneke van Giersbergen on lead vocals. Rounding out the band is Jord Otto and Ferry Duijsens on guitars, Johan van Stratum on bass, and Ed Warby on drums. This may be Vuur's debut album, but their roots run deep in the prog garden. Anneke has not only released solo projects, she has performed with Ayreon, Gentle Storm, and Danny Cavanaugh. Coupled with my earlier mention of her work with The Gathering and The Devin Townsend Project, you realize Anneke knows her way around a sound studio. The other members of the band have fairly extensive resumes as well so rookies they ain't...
My third selection is a more somber slice; the final cut "Reunite! - Paris." A soft opening belies the adrenaline rush brought on by earlier servings. The mood elevator does climb a bit as the song progresses. Jord and Ferry manage to work up a lather--just not quite as frenzied as they had been previously, allowing Anneke's vocals to become the focal point. Fear not my prog metal friends; Vuur seems unable or unwilling to slip a ballad into the mix. The sound still tests your headphones, Vuur is just trolling another section of the prog garden before the stylus rests in its holster...
You can purchase "In This Moment We Are Free - Cities" at Vuur's website Vuur and
InsideOut Music where you will also find the rest of the InsideOut stable of prog artists. Vuur boasts a Facebook page Vuur Facebook and Twitter account @vuur_band if you are so inclined. As is seemingly the thing to do at the moment, Vuur also has a YouTube channel Vuur YouTube so you can keep up with new video releases and look behind-the-scenes at the making of "In This Moment We Are Free - Cities."
I chose "Your Glorious Light Will Shine - Helsinki" for your listening pleasure this week. A song from the darker side of the garden, the headphones fill your auditory canals with a cacophony of sound from the onset, and once again Anneke's vocals rest solidly on the shoulders of stellar guitar and drumming. This song doesn't peel the curtain back; it tears it from the overhead rigging system to reveal a stage beset with a band more than happy to fill the arena with boisterous commotion. Go ahead and turn the volume up...
And as the sand drips slowly through the hourglass, so too another week in The Closet Concert Arena has slipped past like a ship in the night. Vuur added a bit of Red Bull to the punch bowl this week...just enough to arouse your senses and awaken the nocturnal throng roaming the prog garden.
Prog has many facets, moods, and styles. I believe it was best stated as "...a lifestyle--not a genre." Progressive rock really is so much more because it has so much more; sights as well as sounds and darkness as well as light. For those who prefer not to stray far from the edge, contemplative as well as penetrating music. Prog comes in many shapes and sizes and one need not prefer them all...like a connoisseur of the finer things in life, prog too can be subjective. Vuur calls the progressive section of the garden home and yet they reach across the acreage to draw from many subsections as well. Enjoy the amalgam; it's what makes prog so desirable...
Off now to continue the journey...tapping another vein as the search for all things prog winds through the remains of 2017...until next time...
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