by Stephen Thomas ErlewineMaybe it was inevitable that a band would come along that would fuse together art-metal, grunge, nu-metal, prog rock and emo -- after all, the fusion seems both logical and appealing, doesn't it? -- but Hurt's 2006 debut Vol. 1 nevertheless seems to come out of left field. It's not only the kind of album whose title feels sadly truncated -- it's just begging for more information either before or after the Vol. 1 -- but it feels like it exists in an alternate universe, one where all the familiar elements are combined in ways that are familiar, yet undeniably off, even if they fall short of being outright odd or strange. Instead, Hurt and Vol. 1 merely sound a bit peculiar with their gothic, confessional soul-searching. Each song ebbs and flows on waves of flattened, heavy guitars, acoustic strums, and symphonic samples, which carry whispered vocals, guttural screams, and minor-fifth harmonies to the forefront, then ge...