''In This Moment We Are Free – Cities'' is the debut

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

progressive metal Progressive metal (sometimes shortened to prog metal) is a broad :Fusion music genres, fusion music genre melding heavy metal music, heavy metal and progressive rock, combining the loud "aggression" and amplified electric guitar, guitar-driven s ...

band

VUUR VUUR ("fire", "passion" or "drive") is a Dutch progressive metal band formed in 2016 by singer and lyricist Anneke van Giersbergen and musicians she has worked with previously in bands like The Gentle Storm or her own solo band. The band is in ...

. It was released on 20 October 2017, via

Inside Out Music Inside Out Music is a German independent record label originally based in Kleve, North Rhine-Westphalia, and dedicated to the publication of progressive rock, progressive metal and related styles. In 2009, it formed a partnership with Century Med ...

. Apart from the regular edition, the album was released on special editions including a CD digipak and a gatefold 2LP + CD (including

etching Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio (incised) in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may be used on other types ...

on side D). Band leader and vocalist

Anneke van Giersbergen Anna Maria "Anneke" van Giersbergen (born 8 March 1973) is a Dutch singer, songwriter and guitarist who became known worldwide as the lead singer for the rock band The Gathering between 1994 and 2007. She also has a solo career. The project wa ...

viewed past collaborator

Devin Townsend Devin Garrett Townsend (born May 5, 1972) is a Canadian singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He founded extreme metal band Strapping Young Lad and was its primary songwriter, vocalist, and guitarist from 1994 to 2007. He has also ...

as an influence on the album.

Marcela Bovio Marcela Alejandra Bovio García (born October 17, 1979) is a Mexican singer and violinist who is currently a member of the Dutch symphonic death metal band MaYaN. In 1995, she joined Hydra, a Mexican metal band, singing and playing violin. In ...

was initially going to act as secondary vocalist for the album, but left the band mid-production due to divergences about the direction the vocals should take.

Song information

All songs on the album are inspired by cities visited by van Giersbergen during her years of touring. The cities involved are:

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

Rio Rio or Río is the Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, and Maltese word for "river". When spoken on its own, the word often means Rio de Janeiro, a major city in Brazil. Rio or Río may also refer to: Geography Brazil * Rio de Janeiro * Rio do Sul, a ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

and

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. According to van Giersbergen: On 8 September 2017, a video for the opening track "My Champion – Berlin" was released. Commenting on this particular track, van Giersbergen said that it "serves as a kind of master of ceremonies. It's both heavy and melodic, it showcases the technical abilities of the band, but you can still sing along to it. ..This song is about

after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The goddess on the

Berlin Victory Column The Victory Column (german: , from ''Sieg'' ‘victory’ + '' Säule'' ‘column’) is a monument in Berlin, Germany. Designed by Heinrich Strack after 1864 to commemorate the Prussian victory in the Second Schleswig War, by the time it was ...

was raised to commemorate military victories, but in the song the city speaks to her and is asking her for help to overcome troubled times". The song was composed by guitarist Jord Otto. "The Fire – San Francisco" talks about people's lives before, during and after the

1906 San Francisco earthquake At 05:12 Pacific Standard Time on Wednesday, April 18, 1906, the coast of Northern California was struck by a major earthquake with an estimated moment magnitude of 7.9 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (''Extreme''). High-intensity sha ...

. The track "Days Go By – London" talks about the

Great Fire of London The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through central London from Sunday 2 September to Thursday 6 September 1666, gutting the medieval City of London inside the old Roman city wall, while also extending past the ...

from the perspective of the fire itself, although it is also a song about hope. It was the first song to be written for the album.

Critical reception

The album received mixed to positive reviews by critics, with most reviewers praising van Giersbergen's performance, but some criticizing the songwriting. Angry Metal Guy's GardensTale pointed some problems like an underrepresented bass and an "attempt at a wall of sound during the episodes of triumphant grandeur

hat A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...

limit the dynamics", but ended up calling the album "truly excellent" and considered it perhaps "the heaviest music she has put out to date". In a review for ''The Prog Report'', Craig Ellis Bacon praised the album's heaviness and the individual performances of van Giersbergen and drummer

Ed Warby Edward R. Warby (born 7 March 1968) is a Dutch musician, best known as the drummer for death metal band Gorefest and progressive rock/metal project Ayreon. He also appeared in the band Agressor in 1982 and joined the Eindhoven-based metal band ...

, as well as the album's production. He concluded by saying the album is "a wonderful debut that finds a "new" band in full swing right from the get-go". Writing for Echoes and Dust, Michael Baker was less enthusiastic about the release. Although he praised van Giersbergen's performance, he felt "the songs themselves don't quite make it to those heights. Throughout

you can hear moments of

and

Arjen Lucassen Arjen Anthony Lucassen (born 3 April 1960) is a Dutch singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist musician and record producer best known for his long-running progressive metal/rock opera project Ayreon. Lucassen started his career in 1980 as the ...

Ayreon Ayreon is a musical project by Dutch songwriter, singer, musician and record producer Arjen Anthony Lucassen. Ayreon's music is described as progressive rock, progressive metal and power metal sometimes combined with genres such as folk, electro ...

, but there is a feeling of a lack of confidence that means Vuur often take the safer well trod path that ultimately means the songs never hit their stride. They are never heavy or progressive enough to stand out or melodic and catchy enough to work as arena filling power ballads". He ultimately called the band's debut "competent but frustrating". On '' Prog'', Alex Lynham commented that "for all the talent here, ultimately the record drags. Several album tracks are overlong and similar, and despite the vocal hooks and deft musicianship, there's a lack of 'wow' moments. The LP is at its best when it veers closest to the kind of cinematic metal that the

Devin Townsend Project Devin Garrett Townsend (born May 5, 1972) is a Canadian singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He founded extreme metal band Strapping Young Lad and was its primary songwriter, vocalist, and guitarist from 1994 to 2007. He has also h ...

ply their trade in .. Overall, this is a promising start, but one that hopefully will see the band developing in a unique direction on future releases".

Track listing

Personnel

lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...

and

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are use ...

rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., drum kit, bass guitar ...

* Jord Otto - guitars *

Ferry Duijsens A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water taxi ...

- guitars *

Johan van Stratum Johan van Stratum (born 15 April 1982) is a Dutch bassist and a member of the progressive metal band VUUR. He was the bassist of Stream of Passion, and one of the two founding members to stay in the band until it disbanded in 2016. He also playe ...

- bass *

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

;Other personnel * Joost van den Broek - producing, songwriting * Mark Holcomb (

Periphery Periphery or peripheral may refer to: Music *Periphery (band), American progressive metal band * ''Periphery'' (album), released in 2010 by Periphery * "Periphery", a song from Fiona Apple's album '' The Idler Wheel...'' Gaming and entertainm ...

Esa Holopainen Esa Holopainen (born 1 October 1972) is a Finnish musician, currently the main songwriter, occasional lyricist, founding member and lead guitarist of the Finnish metal band Amorphis. He is one out the two longest standing members of the band (t ...

(

Amorphis Amorphis is a Finnish heavy metal band founded by Jan Rechberger, Tomi Koivusaari, and Esa Holopainen in 1990. Initially, the band was a death metal act, but on later albums they evolved into playing other genres, including progressive metal, an ...

Daniel Cardoso Daniel Antonio Cardoso (born 6 October 1989) is a South African soccer player who plays as a defender for Sekhukhune United in the Premier Soccer League. Early life Cardoso was born in Johannesburg. His father grew up in Portugal, while his ...

(

Anathema Anathema, in common usage, is something or someone detested or shunned. In its other main usage, it is a formal excommunication. The latter meaning, its ecclesiastical sense, is based on New Testament usage. In the Old Testament, anathema was a cr ...

) - songwriting * Black & Finch - cover art

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:In This Moment We Are Free - Cities 2017 debut albums Inside Out Music albums