Album Review: Unleash The Archers - Phantoma
Reviewed by Chris Taylor
Unleash the Archers have a lot to live up to with Phantoma. After three albums of expertly blending Power Metal and Melo Death their popularity was sent into overdrive with their two part concept albums Apex and Abyss, released in 2017 and 2020 respectively. An epic narrative spread across two albums full of some of the band’s best work to date, any album that followed on was going to carry with it a lot of expectation from fans both old and new.
In true Unleash the Archers fashion the album has an epic sci-fi narrative as its through line. This time tackling the much talked about, or rather debated, concept of artificial intelligence. Following our protagonist, Phantoma, the album tells the story of an AI gaining sentience in Earth’s future. It’s classic science fiction territory which has now become one of the big talking points of the day.
Rather than firing off all guns blazing, the opening track ‘Human Era’ is more here to set the scene. A stompy, fists in the air kind of vibe and a strong chorus. If you were however worried that the hallmarks you’d expect from Unleash the Archers are seemingly absent, track two ‘Ph4nt0-mA’ (that’s the title track if you couldn’t tell) brings in everything we love about this band. A fast energetic pace that will fire you up, and of course Brittney’s iconic vocal range once again proving why she is one of the best in the scene.
One thing you can always expect from an Unleash the Archers album are choruses that shoot for the stratosphere. The catchy and massively uplifting ‘Green and Glass’ soars with an anthemic quality that you just don’t get in other Metal subgenres. It’s also a hard sell having a seven and half minute power ballad on an album as high octane as this, but ‘Give it Up or Give it All' brings the scope required making it a highlight of the whole album. It almost feels designed for the stage with an easy to follow sing-along chorus that should have everyone’s fist in the air.
Long time fans of the band who may have been disappointed that the heavier death growls have taken something of a back seat in recent years may be similarly frustrated here. It takes till track four ‘The Collective’ for them to come charging in.
But perhaps less is more, as when they do appear they have all the more impact. The song already has a strong presence, with Brittney declaring “join or stand aside”, but the ferocious chanting of “we are the collective” will go down a storm during this year’s festival season should this song make an appearance.
The harsh vocals seem to be saved for the latter half of the album when the narrative gets darker. The post chorus of ‘Ghost in the Mist’ for example, is the most evil sounding part of the whole package. As well as ‘Seeking Vengeance’ where they really add to the song’s scope. It’s a vocal dynamic that fans of this band have adored for a long while, and it’s just as effective here when the narrative calls for it.
The risk when a band suddenly releases something that hits people big time, is that the audience will get misty eyed by it and whatever follows will struggle to land as strong. It remains to be seen whether Phantoma will have the same impact as Apex and Abyss, but either way a new Unleash the Archers album is always guaranteed to be a great time. Phantoma is no exception. An epic display of energetic power metal with amazing vocals that is guaranteed to light a fire under you.
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