Review Summary: Engaging Powerprog from Australia that while not perfect, manages to avoid many pitfalls of the genre.
While Transcending Mortality may not have released the fastest, flashiest, or most technically astounding powerprog album, the fact remains that The Last Horizon is one refreshing album to listen to. What we do have is a blend of talented musicians who instead of opting to copy the likes of Dream Theater or Symphony X (which is usually the case when you see power and prog anywhere near each other), decided to explore a different, more emotionally stimulating aspect of the genre. The end result is a unique blend of melodic power metal and progressive metal that manages to slow things down a bit from the usual fare without becoming a burden to listen to.
Rather than jumping into a track-by-track analysis of the album, I would like to point out the defining characteristics of Transcending Mortality’s sound. First off, the tone of the album is far more important than is usually seen in powerprog. Rather than using the band’s progressive tendencies to showcase their instrumental talents, every key, time, and tempo change serves a purpose to the overall sound of the album. Lyrics aside, the music in The Last Horizon paints a picture of the impending downfall of a glorious empire. Even when the music is tending towards the power metal side, (as in the track The Dawn of Defeat) there is constantly a sense of foreboding. It is this tone that truly sets it apart from countless other bland powerprog albums.
While the tone of the album is the most important thing here, Transcending Mortality still manage to put their considerable chops on display. The guitar work on the album is highly impressive, including plenty of excellent sweep work during the solos, but never feels flashy or ill-fitting to the music. Riffs are often quite progressive, particularly in rhythm, and the leads are generally tasteful. Singer Mike Zoias shows considerable skill jumping from a melodic mid-range that fits the lighter sections to a more typical power metal style. Keyboard (performed by Mike Zoias) is used sparingly throughout the album for effect rather than as a lead instrument. The bass playing is pretty standard for the metal genre; aside from a few fills it is nearly lost in the mix. Since this album was independently recorded by Transcending Mortality the production is slightly lacking. The drumming suffers the most from said production flaws. While the drumming is technically proficient, the sound of the drums just isn’t that good. Transcending Mortality did the smart thing and put the drums fairly low in the mix, but this takes away some of the dynamics of the album. Luckily, this hardly takes anything away from the music, but there are times when you feel that the drums could have added something.
Apart from the production flaws and a few seemingly misplaced riffs (notably in Veil of Midnight and Dawn of Defeat), the only black spot on the album is the third track, The Spiral. It’s as if they were trying to make a heavier track and just failed all the way around. The riffs have almost no flow, the vocals sound worse than anywhere else on the album, and the sound just doesn’t fit the tone that I’ve gone into detail about. Despite this, the solo is pretty awesome.
At the end of the day The Last Horizon is as ambitious emotionally as it is in musical technicality. This is a commendable feat in a genre known for endless instrumental egotism. Though The Last Horizon is not without flaws, it definitely breaks the mold.
