Frank Zappa passed this mortal coil in 1993, leaving behind volumes of brilliant and often criminally underappreciated music. He’s now looking down from The Great Wazoo in the sky, where thankfully yellow snow isn’t a concern. If by chance the sounds of Lye By Mistake’s Fea Jur reached his groovy orbit he would no doubt be proud and perhaps jealous.

Fea Jur grabs you right away with the complicated jazzy opener “Big Red Button.” Don’t expect power chords, 4/4 time or the verse-chorus formula anywhere. Lye By Mistake offers progressive metal fused with jazz and consistently beautiful and complex guitar work. This album liberally incorporates Zappa’s guitar-heavy opus Hot Rats, bits of The Dillinger Escape Plan and math metal and the experimental proclivities of of Sun Ra and Zappa collaborator Captain Beefheart. You’d think that list of influences would lead to boring music cranked out for a master’s thesis at the Berkley College of Music. But that’s not the case at all as this album kicks ass from beginning to end; you could play Fea Jur with the windows rolled down, no problem.

“The Condition” opens with mellow sounds you might hear in an upscale jazz club. Guitarist Josh Bauman then takes off with guitar work as the backing band punches out something that would have fit the 1950s Chess Records catalog. Lye By Mistake isn’t afraid to let the song breathe and open up before they come back with a chugging riff played with hardcore intensity. Then consider “Invincible Bad Ass,” where K.K. Downing riffs meet ethereal passages and later the prog-nightmare opening of “Vanguard to Nowhere”.

There are plenty of superlatives that could be used for this music. Let’s just say it takes guts, determination and talent to pull off an album like this. Lye By Mistake pushes metal past more boundaries and into the most unexpected places.

[Visit the band's website]

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