Recent Reviews

November 2023

October 2023

September 2023

August 2023

[ More Music Reviews ]


Fontanelle: Vitamin F
Fontanelle - Vitamin F Review

Fontanelle: Vitamin F

Progressive Rock Fusion
4.5/5.0

Sometimes I get pitched material right out of left field, something that doesn't fit in context. Oregon based Fontanelle and their third full length album, Vitamin F, comes on Southern Lord Records, mostly known for their heavy doom-sided music. But Fontanelle plays this tripped and tricked out progressive rock fusion, often bordering on improvisation.

Fontanelle Photo

Fontanelle: guy in back, land surfing.

Like most vitamins, Vitamin F is a good pill to swallow. Here's six guys using a mixture of guitars, drums, bass, keyboards and samples, and horns to create this groovy sound venturing into areas akin to Seventies fuzzy pyschedelia to Eighties jazz fusion to modern shoeqaze improvisation.

It's definitely some unique stuff, but not exactly the stuff for dinner music and probably more challenging than most rockers or headbangers would be willing to tackle. Frankly, I like the horns laced through most every song, but especially on The Adjacent Possible and Reassimilate, both real knotty arrangements. Mostly, I like that Fontanelle reminds me of a cross between Chick Corea, Weather Report, and Miles Davis. After hours, nearly daily, listening to hard rock and various genres of heavy metal, it's nice to get out my comfort zone and drift back to my higher brow Eighties post college days where Metallica shared time with Billy Cobham and Pat Metheny.

Easily recommended.

CraigHartranft.net - New fiction, crime fiction by Craig Hartranft





In Short

Fontanelle's Vitamin F is a supplement you want to take; it will boost your taste for creative and challenging prog rock fusion.

Find A Review

Alphabetical Index

a b c d e f g h i j
k l m n o p q r s t
u v w x y z #
Album of the Week
Read the Angra: Cycles Of Pain Album Review

We haven't had a new studio album from Brazil's Angra since prior to the COVID pandemic, 2018's Omni. But the quintet has been busy. In 2021, they released Omni Live in Japan where they have a huge fan base ... [ Read More ]