Thought Chamber

Angular Perceptions

Written by: ASH on 16/04/2007 21:58:06

It seems that my luck has run out. The flow of EPs landing in my mailbox has dried out, so I'm back on the progressive train again. Well, not that this is any big problem, just gotta get back into the world of solos. Luckily, it isn't that hard to do when you've got Thought Chamber to review, since they seem more promising than what I thought in the beginning. And the idea of blending progressive with metal actually sounds both interesting and intimidating. Anyways, let's dig into the quintet and their debut release "Angular Perceptions".

As a band, "Thought Chamber" has been around since 2004, after listening through the album it is obvious that the musical experience of each part of the band is astonishing. That's a little thing I've discovered about the progressive rock genre. Most of the musicians are not playing their music, they are their music, and there's a high chance that these guys have been breastfed with music. You especially hear it in the final track "A Mind Beyond", but let's keep it down a little until we get to that point, all in all, it's completely similar with Spock's Beard's style.

The majority of the album's tracks display some pretty exceptional musicianship, which at some parts simply blows you away. I could listen to the intro riff of "Transmigration of Souls" again and again, especially because of the feeling I get when thinking of a mix between that single riff and the band At The Gates. Furthermore, the instrumental chaos of the closing track "A Mind Beyond", undoubtedly expresses the very abstract and complex creativity of each band member. I wouldn't normally be saluting such chaos if they did not clearly file themselves as progressive, so for the musical innovativeness I'm giving my thumbs up threefold.

On the other hand, there's just something bad about Michael Harris' voice, simply because of two reasons. One, even though the band is progressive, and they have three instrumental tracks, Harris seems to be missing on a lot of the tracks, making the musical show-offs seem quite awkward, almost as if they were fill-ins of some sort. Two, the vast amount of spacey acoustics thrown onto his and Ted Leonard's voices is simply overdoing it by heaps.

All in all, Thought Chamber is a quite mixed experience, though most of it is positive. Their creativity is fantastic, their musical complexity is amazing, but the major drawback will ultimately be that only a few tracks of the album are worth listening to, since everything else will just get on your nerves due to what seems to be unique, just ends up sounding the same as the rest of the tracks. And then there's the little thing about the space acoustics. Nevertheless, I see some great potential in this progressive metal explosion of riff-bombs and mysterious lyrics. A definite piece to add to the progressive fan's collection.

7

Download: Sacred Treasure, Transmigration of Souls, A Mind Beyond
For the fans of: Enchant, Spock's Beard
Listen: MySpace

Release date 03.04.2007
InsideOut Music
Provided by Target ApS

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