Fromuz is a progressive instrumental rock band from Uzbekistan. The band consists of drum, bass, keyboards and guitar. Overlook is their second CD with five tracks ranging in time from ten to seventeen minutes long. The whole CD clocks in at just over 69 minutes. All the musicians in the band are very accomplished players and their skill is on good display during the whole CD.
Their style of music on this CD is in the symphonic progressive vein, but with a good amount of jazz-fusion sensibility. What I mean by this is that their overall sound is full and symphonic, but with a lot of changes in theme and time signatures some being very drastic and abrupt in a jazz-fusion way. The band uses many different musical ideas in every song most of the time I found this added to the music, but there were a few times the changes lost me. The first song "Stone Salad" is example of this. The song starts off with sparse, almost lonely sounding piano part and then the first change comes with a driving or march- like guitar and keyboard riff. This then alternates with a more melodic passage with slight variations for a while. Then comes a section with a Middle Eastern sounding guitar quickly followed up by some rapid-fire electric guitar similar to Al Di Meola. Next is a short punchy transition part that flows into a very nice majestic and melodic part similar to an IQ or Satellite piece. The band then comes back to the marching style riff. Then the next change comes and it is a dissonant guitar centered part that last almost five minutes long. This is one of the parts that kind of lost me and I found it to be too long. One positive thing this part did was it made me glad when it was over and when next change came in it sounded so much stronger. After this they went back to the main riffs they started the song with till the end of the piece. The rest of the songs all have some very interesting parts to them. The song "Other Side of the Water" has a very cool sounding beginning segment that sounds like it could be used in suspense thriller movie. It really gives the feelings of tension and drama. Then they change it up with a Pink Floyd sounding part. The track "13th August" has a section of heavy lead guitar followed up by a section that sounds like some European pop song. The last track also has some very dynamic changes from the softest and mellow parts to the heaviest and fastest playing on the CD.
This is a CD with a lot more music on it than its total time of 69:14 would suggest. The guitar and keyboards use a broad range of sounds and effects creating many different textures to each song. The song all contain many varied musical themes for an intense and gratifying listening experience. There are so many twist and turns in the music you might get lost, but let Fromuz take control and you will be fine. I would highly recommend this CD to fans of such bands as Liquid Tension Experiment, Planet X, Priam, Djam Karet, Spaced Out, The Lens or anyone that enjoys adventurous instrumental progressive rock.
Track Listing
1. Stone Salad
2. Other Side of the Water
3. Crashmind
4. 13th August
5. Return to W.I.T.
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