In my never ending quest to bring all of you the sexiest music you’ve never heard of, I’ve managed to come across a group of guys in my neck of the woods that are going to take over the world of progressive metal. Enter Dylan Furr, a guitar virtuoso and musical genius that has collected other extremely talented musicians in the Los Angeles area in order to form a force to be reckoned with. The Dylan Furr Band has been cranking out the groovy, melodic, slightly djenty progressive tunes that you didn’t know that you were craving. Their newest, upcoming release “Juxtaposition” is sure to satisfy that craving. It consists of everything from metal, to progressive rock, to classical, and evensome jazz/fusion in the mix. It 100% needs to be noted that Dylan wrote and recorded all of the guitar, bass, and vocals for the album; as well as mixing and mastering the album. Needless to say, he’s a fucking prodigy. Everything from the album artwork to production to the keyboards was written and done by Dylan.
“Juxtaposition” is incredibly well done. It has the perfect balance of brutal mixed with flowing melodies. These 10 songs convey a wide range of different moods and emotions throughout. According to the Dylan himself, the album is about “A man who is lost in life (Adam). He is looking for more, so he seeks religion as a sense of hope. When he opens his soul to accept the higher power he is possessed by what he believes is a demon. It becomes apparent to others around Adam that he is not himself. The evil spirit then makes him commit a murder of a man (John). It isn’t until after Adam has killed John that the spirit reveals to him that he was not a demon but the upset spirit of John’s son. John had previously killed his wife and son, so the spirit of his son came back through Adam to seek revenge for the justice that was never served.”
Now to how the album actually sounds. Dylan’s vocals sound very similar to Matthieu Romarin of the french band Uneven Structure (also a really good band if you’ve never heard of them). He has this eerie quality in his cleans and isn’t afraid to bust out some growls given the opportunity. His bass playing (on a fretless bass nonetheless) is spot on. It boggles my mind that this guy is able to be so talented with so many different ways. Drummer Max Lobetta makes his presence known by being able to groove along flawlessly throughout the album while not being overshadowed by everything else that’s going on But lets get to the real meat of the album; the guitar work. First things first, Dylan is an insane guitarist. One of the best up and coming players out there. He can shred, sweep, thall, and jam out like no other, but there’s so much more to his playing than just that. He has this ability to play and blend all different kinds of sounds & styles with his guitar. He’s able to go from devastatingly brutal to incredibly ambient on the drop of a hat. There’s no filler songs or even riffs on the album. Everything played fits in and has purpose. I like all the songs on the album, but I would have to say my favorite tracks are “Possession”, “Within the Depths”, “Manifest”, “Retention”, and “Hidden Motives” (which features some guest guitar work from Miles Dimitri Baker of Rings of Saturn). You can definitely hear the influences of bands like Tesseract, The Contortionist (recent), Scale the Summit, and even a little Joe Satriani. All in all, if you’re a fan of progressive music, you absolutely need to hear this album. Be on the look out for upcoming shows and releases by this band, because trust me, if they keep it up they’re going to be huge.
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