TRANSCENDING MORTALITY – The Last Horizon

Transcending Mortality was formed in Australia somewhere in 2002 with the intentions of combining Progressive and Power Metal. After, five years, the band is ready to present their debut release, entitled The Last Horizon, an album that contains 7 tracks with a total time duration of 50 minutes.

The band has put a lot of work into this release, starting from the excellent sound production and ending with the very good compositions that combine Power Metal and sophisticated musicianship.

Rightly or wrongly, Dream Theater have connected their name with almost everything that has the Progressive Metal tag on it. Most of the bands have distinct influences and fall into the trap of competing with Dream Theater by composing more and more complicated music that eventually becomes difficult to “follow.” Fortunately, Transcending Mortality “failed” in getting looped into the above category and put together an excellent album. The slow tempo of the melodic “Beyond Remembrance” leads into a groovy rhythm section. The vocals are powerful and melodic, bearing the perfect pitch. The Australians have put in some really good guitar fills during the first part of the guitar solo — far from being boring, instead presenting an extravagant style.

“Into The Light” is more of a Power Metal track, featuring uplifting guitar riffs and a galloping rhythm. The keyboards are left aside, taking the role of simply giving more depth to the compositions.

The heavy and fast-paced track, “The Spiral,” is next. There are some minor areas for improvement here as the sound production has the guitars “covering” the vocals.

“Veil Of Midnight” starts with some Rock melodies, taking the listener back to the Rush years. The track slowly brings out the Progressive character as soon as the twin guitars enter, serving some very good leads and fills.

“Twilight” has some emotional moments with some clean guitar arpeggios and warm vocals, while “The Dawn Of Defeat” raises the temperature with the staccato rhythm guitars and the Classic Heavy Metal atmosphere.

“Last Horizon” is the last and probably the heaviest track of the album. Apart from the early Iron Maiden-esque double guitars, there is an Epic feeling all over this song, especially during the fast parts where the vocals really shine.

Transcending Mortality have managed to create an impressive album, taking Progressive Metal back to the basics by avoiding the endless guitar jabber and by merging some old-school Metal atmosphere. So, the question that rises as soon as The Last Horizon stops spinning is “Why the hell is this band without a record contract?”.