TAMMIKUINEN TAMMELA

Uzva's debut album is not an easy one to find as it seems that the album was printed in small quantities , most of them sold by now but also it is not well distributed. Thanks to fellow ProgReviewer Jimbo (who even had problems finding it in his home country of Finland), I now have a copy. I can thank him and will return him the favor, if I can someday.

Uzva's debut is an interesting one with full on fusion music (not really in the jazz-rock mode but a little still) meddling classical , folk , a bit of jazz. The music although very pleasant , stays very calm , shall I say almost pastoral , almost fully acoustic , underlined by the cello of Marko Maninnen (ex-Hoyry Koyne) but somehow the music never really takes off. Only in the last track , is there a real hint of energy again one has to wait for the last five minutes. Most of the tracks are strongly influenced in the classical quartet or quintet mode as chamber music.

Although their second album has a similar structure and development , it is by far more interesting mainly because of the energy levels or passions of the musicians is more fulfilling like in almost-similar band from countrymen Alamaailman Vasarat. Although still a good album , I would recommend progheads to start with the second album (if they can ever find this one) and let themselves get carried away with the undeniable charm of this acoustic fusion music.