Band:	Fused
Album:	The Obliquity Of The Ecliptic
Style:	Heavy metal
Release date:	August 2009

01. River Of Life
02. Profit Out Of Me
03. Logos
04. The One Less Travelled By
05. Solitude
06. Uncertainty
07. Beggars Of Pain
08. Gliding
09. The Agondonter
10. Children Of Disarray

When reading the album title and track listing of the album, only one thought came across my mind; "Oh shit, this is going to be pretentious." I couldn't have been more wrong! The Obliquity Of The Ecliptic is a 100% rock n' roll album, revolved entirely around classic riff work and catchy hooks.

Fused - not exactly the most creative band name upon first impression, but it is definitely the most fitting. These guys take possibly some of hard rock's best highlights, then combines them in a straight-forward - albeit predictable at times - approach. The sound is a mix of Danzig's Lucifuge, The Cult's Sonic Temple, Pearl Jam's Ten, then top it off with a dash of some guitar leads reminiscent of Randy Rhodes. Yes, this album is extremely derivative, but Fused show absolutely no shame in displaying their obvious influences. The influences worn on their sleeves are combined in an interesting enough manner to not come across as a blatant knock-off band. It's basically a no-gimmick hard rock album that feeds off of the driving tempos and the solid riffs, simple as that.

Creating a straight forward rock album does have is pitfalls. Aside from the predictable issue of the entire "I've heard this before" syndrome, a lot of the songs tend to be a bit too long for what they contain. I can't say that there are really any weak tracks on the album, but having a 6 minute track that could have easily been cut down to 3 or 4 minutes speaks for itself. There are basically just periods during the songs where they lose any bite, and it starts coming across as somewhat bland radio-rock.

The Obliquity Of The Ecliptic may not be the most original album I've heard all year, but Fused know how to write some great riffs with some passion behind them. That's rock n' roll, and I like it.