Conor Fynes 'Fea Jur' - Lye By Mistake (9/10)

As someone constantly on the lookout for new and exciting music to dig into, there are few things more refreshing than discovering a new excellent band. Lye By Mistake may have started out rooted in the mathcore scene, and while even hearing the 'mathcore' label tossed around a band would have me avoid it like the plague, Lye By Mistake's second album has evidently disposed of their original style for something else that would be best described as a perfect incarnation of jazz fusion metal. Essentially, take the music of a jazz guitarist like Pat Metheny, add in a sheath of technical metal, and out comes Lye By Mistake's second album 'Fea Jur', an album that will quickly repulse any metalhead with a slight aversion to jazz music, but perfect for anyone who would like to see what can be accomplished with the jazz metal style.

All of the music here is completely instrumental, and all things considered, this was a great decision for Lye By Mistake. Listening to the intense technicality and quirky heaviness of the album, having any sort of vocals on top of the music would tend to distract from what could not otherwise be the greatest aspect of the band's sound; the instrumentation. With the exception of a quaint acoustic piece that comes before the closing track, the music here keeps the energy and showmanship up, alternating between the jazz and progressive metal elements. The metal leaning side of 'Fea Jur' seems to be derived somewhat from the 'djent' sound innovated by Meshuggah, at least as far as the percussive rhythm guitars are concerned. The main focus is often on the lead guitars though, which bind the light and heavy aspects of Lye By Mistake together by the fact that regardless of the dynamic the band is playing, it's usually a safe bet that the lead guitar is blistering away with some mind-numbingly technical exercise. Although this may sound exhausting and even boring on paper, the way that Josh Bauman layers the guitars and incorporates memorable sections of melody and weirdness into his leads is incredible, and even being someone that has become somewhat opposed to the tired concept of guitar virtuoso albums, 'Fea Jur' manages to stay very interesting.

Although the album is specialized towards a very particular brand of jazz metal that some may find incredibly indulgent (and it is), 'Fea Jur' is one of very few albums I have heard in the genre of metal that is able to do its jazz elements a proper justice. Quite often, Lye By Mistake will feel like a jazz band that dabbles in metal, as opposed to the contrary, and this only works towards the band gaining a more distinct voice in my ears. A jazzy masterpiece from these talented instrumentalists.