Phantom Limb are a Canadian Progressive Metal band who rose from the ashes of Caveat. I don’t know Caveat’s music but it would seem they were around for a while and often when members of old bands form new ones – Haken spring to mind here – they take a new raft of ideas as well as a wealth of musicianship.
“Mors Ontologica” starts with a short piece of feelgood but darkening Prog Jazz but thereafter remains loyal to Prog of the fast and highly technical kind. The sleeve, lyrics and album’s title all suggest there’s something sinister and dark going on here, and this is captured in the music. It’s not dark in a Black Metal or Doom way, in fact the opposite, but there’s a kind of demented urgency which hints at mental disturbance. Although it flows to a point, it’s far from straight line in its attack, and there’s mountains going on as the album takes its slightly chaotic but forward-thrusting course. With “Intoxification”, it’s almost foaming at the mouth with its Rock n Roll, Skid Row style delivery. Frenetic Prog Metal guitar and drums make this exciting. At times it’s like a rocket taking off. It’s like speeded-up Zero Hour with a mini-operatic feel, such is the drama within it. “Chameleon” races off again into the world of Technical Prog. It’s for lovers of Suspyre but I’d suggest that Phantom Limb are better and more interesting. I don’t know if the lead singer is appealing for calm in his vocals but he doesn’t get any. Momentarily we hear an acoustic section but it quickly speeds up again and we’re back into a dazzling technical passage. Dark ferocity follows on “Engraved Within”. Engaged Within would be a plausible alternative track title – it has a magnificently catchy rhythm to go with the ever flamboyant and flourishing instrumental. The vocals have a strange clarity in spite of the nervous angst and turbulence which envelop this album. “Mors Ontologica” gets better and better. The last two tracks are in a similar vein and I did wonder whether there is perhaps a limit to the amount of frantic Technical Metal you can have. Imagination however prevails on the final track “Awakening”. The death growls border on those of Opeth in their sound and have impact. The track blends into an interesting and dark spoken section and brings this well-constructed album to a close.
“Mors Ontologica” leaves me breathless. Maybe the next project is to remix the album and play it at half the speed. I guess it would last an hour and a half and wouldn’t be anywhere near as exciting. Technically, this album is tight and as good as I’ve heard. If your inclinations are towards Progressive Metal or you simply like being carried away by a whirlwind, I recommend it.
http://www.myspace.com/phantomlimbmetal
Andrew Doherty
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