Band:	Fluxious
Album:	Why So Serious?
Style:	Fusion, Progressive metal
Release date:	March 28, 2011
A review by:	Ivor

01. Point Of View
02. Reaching Nowhere
03. Inside
04. Voodoo Mood
05. Huging
06. Sinner
07. Games'n'trials
08. Biatch
09. Unfair To You
10. True
11. What A Waste
12. It Belongs To You

What happens when you mix jazz and rock? Yeah, you get something along the lines of jazz-rock and fusion. But what happens when you mix jazz and metal? Yeah, wrong! I wouldn't exactly call it jazz-metal or heavy fusion. Or maybe I would, I still don't know. It just feels more appropriate if I call it heavy jazz for now as that's what Fluxious sounds like - jazzy songs in a heavy distortion coating. Not only that, of course, but in short, it's an awesome mix. Oh yeah, almost forgot to include in the introduction - there's a girl singing!

There's nothing like a good fusion, I tell you. Heavy enough, with proper drive, you know, something that really, really cooks. Normally, though, I stumble across bands that are more jazz than anything else, with occasional forays into rock. In general, I don't mind jazz, I just don't particularly like to listen to it in any other setting than live. Hence, it's a joy to come across something with an edge and a drive, like Fluxious.

Fluxious is not your speedy fusion that just gets you tripping. In this sense it's kind of closer to jazz. In a way it's a weird mix. If you take a jazz band centred around a female singer that kind of gives off a poppy vibe, that sounds somewhat like Fluxious. Now, if you add to it groovy guitars, this thick kind of fat, rolling bass sound, and make drums crisper and metal-like, you are getting closer. If, on top of that, you take into account the jazzy song structure, and make it heavy and edgy, you start to get the idea of how it all sounds.

A special kind of treat is the female singer, Joana Desfosses that fits this music perfectly. And while I like her somewhat ordinary (without any underlying meaning) sounding voice, there are small details that bother me. The band being Swiss, I can't help that they could use the services of - what you call the spell checker, only for pronunciation - yeah, that person! There are just occasional moments when it really rubs the wrong way. Other than that, the music and the vocals work excellently together.

In conclusion I have to say that the mix of jazz and metal that Fluxious offers really has the kick. They have what it takes to pull it off and make this formula work really well. I also can't help thinking that I feel about Fluxious a bit the same way as I did about District 97 that made into MS Awards 2010. While not exactly similar, these two bands do appear to have common qualities. If you liked District 97, you most definitely shouldn't pass this one by. If you don't know either one, well... shouldn't you already be checking them out?!