UMUR "The Great Escape" is the 2nd full-length studio album by Spanish instrumental technical/progressive metal act Continuo Renacer. The album was released through Erzsebet Records in October 2011. It´s the successor to the eponymously titled debut album from 2005. The trio lineup who recorded the debut album is intact on "The Great Escape".

Stylistically the material on "The Great Escape" is a continuation of the fusion influenced instrumental technical/progressive metal style of the debut album. Continuo Renacer are incredibly well playing and the high level performances are definitely one of the greatest assets of the album. The music is fairly heavy at times and the fretless bass playing provides the music with an extra dark technical edge. Artists like Spiral Architect and Twisted Into Form aren´t the worst references, if you can imagine how their music would sound without vocals. The combination of fusion/jazz influences and the relatively hard edged metal elements work well, but there is more to the music than that, as Continuo Renacer also incorporate atmospheric sections and several great guitar solos. Fredy Pelàez again guests on keyboards (like he did on the debut album), and plays both leads and provide atmosphere to the music.

"The Great Escape" features a powerful, clear, and detailed sounding production job, and everyting on the album just reeks high class and quality. High level musicianship, adventurous and powerful compositions, which are both immediate enough to enjoy instantly, but also complex enough to have longivity, and a of course the above mentioned professional production values. A 3.5 - 4 star (75%) rating is deserved.

Time Signature Face fears...

Genre: jazz metal

Granted, blending jazz and metal is not a new thing, and bands like Cynic, Atheist, and Pestilence paved the way for the style that Continuo Renacer play on this album back in the 90s. But that is a minor point, what is important here as whether or not the Spanish trio are good at what they do.

And they are.

They deliver the goods.

While the influence from Cynic and Atheist, and to some extent also Death, makes itself felt throughout the album, Continuo Renacer do contribute a lot of elements of their own, suc has the use of electronic effect, pianos, guitar synths, and organs (especially in the 15 minutes closing track 'The Newborn'). They also embrace some more extreme elements such as blastbeats, a couple of which pop up every now and then. And even if they didn't that wouldn't matter that much to me, because this is overall a style that I absolutely love.

The album is full of changes, odd time signatures, quirky guitar parts, equally quirky bass figures, and drumming with the dynamics of jazz and the chops 'n' power of rock/metal. The bass is central in the mix and has that warm jazzy fretless feel. And with Continuo Renacer being an instrumental act, they are not held back by a vocalist, they have the freedom to really let it rip - which they do. Especially the last track is a wonderful flurry of riffage, slapping and popping bass, mellow passages, synths and effects, brutal odd time signatures and so on.

"The Great Escape" is a pretty awesome slab of jazz metal which should definitely appeal to fans of "Focus"-era Cynic, Atheist, Acid Death, and also "Spheres"-era Pestilence as well as post-"Human"-era Death (although the two latter a more removed in style from Continuo Renacer's sound than the three former ones). Fans of prog tech extreme jazz metal should definitely check it out!

(review originally posted at seaoftranquility.org)