Angular Perceptions

On the surface, Thought Chamber has all the generic trappings of your typical prog metal sideproject. Fancy name: check. Surreal/futuristic cover art: check. Song titles involving terms like mind, souls, god: check. Instrumental numbers: check. Obligatory ballad: check. However, dig a little deeper and you start getting to the anomalies.

First, let's see the pedigree of the culprits on board. Michael Harris, from Arch Rival, handling guitar duties means that the axework is definitely not going to be anything ordinary. The rhythm section of Derek Blakley and Rob Stankiewicz is directly stolen from those thrashy redneck groovers Haji's Kitchen, and yeah, that's definitely a good thing. Bobby Williamson happens to be the keyboard player from Rusty Cooley's band, Outworld, and to round it off, we have Ted Leonard, the wailer from Enchant.

Not bad at all. Anyway, how they work together is the key, and fortunately, they do so resoundingly well. The one-two punch opener of Sacred Treasure and A Legend's Avalon slams home what these guys are capable of - rousing, infectious anthems that don't start feeling cloying after repeat listens. Trust me, I can vouch for that - I've heard this album enough. It's not completely obvious what grants them this longevity, though. For one thing, Harris has this dirty, muddy guitar tone he uses that sounds odd at first, considering the genre, but starts growing on you the more you listen to it. And his lead playing manages to be virtuosic yet distinctive enough to get the eyebrows raising - listen to the tipsy solo on Balance of One for a perfect example. Blakley is also a solid hero - plucking, slapping and tapping here and there, and never having it sounding uncalled for during it all.

The instrumentals add another layer of variety to the mix. Mr Qwinkle's Therapy sounds as quirky as the title would suggest, something like a manic cartoon soundtrack, only more accessible than something like Spastic Ink. And the ballad I mentioned, Silent Shore, is something like an ideal for the song type. None of the instruments are cut out to get that typical hollow sound (think More than Words), they just make their presence more subtle and push the song along airily.

Overall, the band locks in really tight, filling in spaces that the others leave, bouncing melodies off each other, experimenting with dissonant harmonies, and going over the top when the occasion calls for it. The only weak point I can point out is Leonard's vocals - during the regular melody lines and harmonies, it's perfectly fine, but when he tries for the more ambitious high stretches, the seams start to show. You really need a Daniel Gildenlow, Mats Leven or similar hero with superhuman lungs to pull that kind of shit off. Otherwise, this is a solid unique offering that should be mandatory listening for anybody with an interest in prog.

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