http://www.myspace.com/lyebymistakeSince the release of the sizably named Arrangements For Fulminating Vective, things have been reasonably quiet in the Lye By Mistake camp. Following the loss of vocalist Tony Saputo, they bravely made the decision to go ahead and make Fea Jur an instrumental effort despite the fact that they already had three demo tracks recorded, complete with vocals (slyly referenced in the "karaoke remix" of Money Eating Mary). For those uninitiated to their sound they are best described in a nutshell as Progressive-Jazz-metal-Fusion, although those four words could never capture the musical tour de force that is Lye By Mistake. A better description would be the sheer sonic attack of bands like Dillinger Escape Plan and Car Bomb interspersed with genre changes that range from Flamenco to Traditional Chinese, but with an overall Jazz Fusion sensibility.
On Fea Jur the most noticable change in their sound, besides the obvious lack of vocals, is the almost-total removal of the extremely tech-heavy riffs that were littered throughout Arrangements....They've ditched these in favour of more fluid compositional techniques. Rather than being jolted out of a funked out jazz-fusion reverie by a face-melting tech-festival, the two polar aspects of their sound has been intertwined into a seamless stream of complex solos and rich textural patterns. Particularly surprising is the solo acoustic track Missouri Tomater, a virtuoso display of the sheer talent that this band harbours in the form of guitarist Josh Bauman. Throughout the album his guitarwork is some of the best I've ever heard, most evident... well, actually it's non-stop. Every song has at least two or three moments where you stop and go "Jesus Christ, that's the best guitar solo ever". Of course the technicality of the guitar is matched by the rhythm instruments with Bassist John Truesdale and Drummer Drew Button on top form, playing off each other flawlessly, most notably on the fantastically named track "Invincible Bad Ass" and during the bass solo in the eponymous "Fea Jur". The album closer "Money Eating Mary (Karaoke Remix)" already ranks among my favourite songs.
If I were to raise any one criticism of this album, I suppose it would be that the lack of vocals does remove a certain level of intensity from the music, although on another level it allows for a further development of the instrumentation, so really it's a double edged blade. Aside from this minor blip, this album is one of the greatest works of Jazz/metal Fusion that the world will ever see. This band has done the incredible in creating an album that proves unbelievable technicality and melodic perfection are not mutually exclusive. My final word on
Fea Jur would be that if you are a fan of the first album, especially the track "Nero's Intention", then be prepared for a tech-jazz sonic onslaught that reaches previously unheard of plateaus of compositional dexterity.
Be ready.
9.5/10
Forums 
Favoured: 0
