OVERLOOK

Just a month after ''Audio Diplomacy'' saw the light, Fromuz were among the bands to perform at the 2007 Baja Prog Festival in Mexico next to monster artists and acts such as Focus, Universe Zero and Jordan Rudess.The rest of the year they focused on writing new material and gig around the countries of former Soviet Union.The new album ''Overlook'' was eventually released on 10T Records in October 2008, recorded in three different studios, having Andrew Mara-Novik as the main producer and guitarist Vitaly Popeloff as the main composer.

With ''Overlook'' Fromuz move stylistically to another level, the one that includes only long, epic compositions with plenty of different movements.The album consists of five tracks with a length around 70 minutes, the shortest piece clocking at 11 minutes.Soundwise Fromuz haven't changed many things.Their music is a heavier edition of Progressive Fusion with orchestral and jazzy textures, quite complex, fascinating and technically efficient, featuring endless tempo changes, dense interplays and bombastic grooves.They borrow the improvisation of Jazz, the power of Heavy Rock and the virtuosity of Progressive Rock to offer an all instrumental amalgam full of changing climates and various soundscapes.Instrumentally the basic elements are Popeloff's jazzy solos and angular riffs, the highly technical rhythm section of Mara-Novik and Badirov and the modern keyboard lines of Albert Khalmurzayev with both flashy and more symphonic waves.The music is extremely tight with a nice balance between excessive soloing and structures themes, always dynamic and often furious.A few melodies and smoother passages breeze some fresh air among the complicated lines and the result is an often amazing and pretty solid work in the vein of LIQUID TENSION EXPERIMENT, DEREK SHERINIAN or 7 FOR 4.

Glad to see extremely technical musicians deliver nice, listenable material, because very often these kind of albums have let me down.''Overlook'' is not among them.It's solid and energetic Heavy Fusion with plenty of interesting ideas and impressive breaks.Strongly recommended...3.5 stars.