50 Best Hard Rock & Heavy Metal Albums Of 2017
16. VUUR – In This Moment We Are Free: Cities
As his art rock album To the Bone (2017) threatened to top the UK Albums Chart back in August, The Guardian infamously referred to progressive mastermind Steven Wilson as “The most successful British musician most people have never heard of”. In lieu of that mantle, it’s probably equally appropriate to refer to frontwoman Anneke van Giersbergen as the most successful progressive rock musician that most progressive rock fans haven’t heard of.
Until her new project VUUR unleashed their first album In This Moment We Are Free: Cities back in October, I was not familiar with her at all. And it turns out she’s worked with the likes of Devin Townsend, Anathema and way, way more over a storied, two-decade-plus career! Either she’s prog’s best kept secret or there’s an embarrasingly giant gap in my knowledge.
Either way, VUUR’s debut is one of the best progressive metal albums of 2017. Unabashedly heavy, laden with solos and possessing one of the best vocal performances in metal this year, In This Moment We Are Free is a charismatic union of Dream Theater, Devin Townsend Project and that sexy dream you had once, combining to form a hugely promising first release.
With every track on the disc being inspired by and dedicated to Anneke’s favourite cities across the globe, the album is as cultured and mature as a creator as well-travelled as her would imply it to be.