Furyon
Gravitas

British band Furyon seems to have been taking the rock/metal press with storm, hailed as the next big thing and all of that. This was when their album was released by their own hand in 2010, now it is being released again by Frontiers and to attract those who have already gotten the album at the first time they have thrown in a pair of acoustic bonus tracks which are versions of tracks that are already on the album as rock songs. “From the outset Furyon have been a force to be reckoned with live. Word of mouth meant they soon became one of the biggest draws in Brighton’s busy rock scene, selling out shows at the iconic Concorde 2 venue, usually reserved for high profile touring bands.” That quote is from the press information, so apparently they are a force to be reckoned with in their musical endeavours. So are this quintet something to reckon with?

Well musically they are according to the label mixing their diet of heavy metal, prog and classical rock into something unique and contemporary in terms of sound. I would however say that it is not really that unique, or contemporary but rather a classical melodic rock sound with simple song structures, catchy choruses and a powerful sound. The vocalist is a classical rock singer with a rather typical rock voice and an energetic and charismatic such. The production is modern with a clean sound but which still is quite edgy and raw, a good production I would say. The album without bonus tracks has ten tracks and plays for about 55 minutes, I think you can count how long the album with bonus tracks will be, the European edition has two bonus tracks.

The first track is called Disappear Again and already from that track you understand that this is not just another one of those melodic rock tracks that comes out all the time. Not because as the label states that they are such amazing musicians that trumps everything, good yes but not that amazing although they do have a knack fro writing catchy and hit-friendly songs that you enjoy listening to. The first track that I mentioned is also the track I find best on the album not maybe by a mile but by quite a margin still, the other tracks are also really good and powerful. I think you can call it something of a bullseye as it is a special album, one that catches your attention and is well worth spending time listening to.

But to become a critic for a little while, the album is a bit on the long side as it doesn’t quite manage to retain my unfaltering interest for the entire time it plays and then I do not even bother with the acoustic bonus tracks that are just new versions of songs on the album and they not really that impressive either. And then we have the fact that it doesn’t really add anything new or unique to the genre, although made on the top level it negates this for most of us. I do think it might be a little bit of nitpicking even though I can clearly say that the long playing time is something of a downer on my part as I think it is a quarter of an hour too long due to the lack of variation I cannot really keep my interest for the album all way through despite all the songs being top class and that is probably worth an H in the rating.

It looks like an ancient book and it might not from the cover be easy to read but proves that you can never judge a book by its cover. I think it is a brilliant melodic rock album with lots of energy and a genuinely positive feel to it, a mainstream melodic rock album that ticks all the boxes, too bad it is a tad long. But why bother about that, it is an album that is more than worth to check out for everyone.