THOUGHT CHAMBER

I originally came across this band after hearing and falling in love with the song 'Transmigration of Souls', and upon finding out that their singer was none other than Enchant's Ted Leonard, I just knew I had to have this album.

One word: Wow.

After a two minute instrumental opening track, the song 'Sacred Treasure' completely blew me away, with its intro full of random guitar/keyboard/bass licks and solos, I couldn't believe what I was hearing. So many instruments playing so many different things at once. Interestingly layered melodies and harmonies makes this an instant classic in my eyes.

The typical prog metal cliché is that this is very 'Dream Theater-inspired', and whilst I'm not denying that, Thought Chamber have a very cool, exotic style and mixture of elements which make this a truly unique group. The amazing playing and songwriting style could easily stand toe-to-toe against DT, and songs like 'Sacred Treasure', 'Balance of One', 'God of Oblique' or any of the instrumentals justify this.

At times Leonard's vocals seem a little thin for this style of music, but hey, I'm not complaining, it still sounds awesome. In fact, there is nothing to complain about, this is one hell of a debut, and deserves a place in every prog fans collection.

A mind beyond

While I found Thought Chamber's second album - 2013's Psykerion - to be extremely impressive, this debut album by the band is considerably less impressive to my ears. Because I was so mightily impressed by Psykerion, I guess it is inevitable that I am going to relate this debut album of the band to that later masterpiece. When I first got interested in Thought Chamber I gave this debut album of the band a spin, but since it didn't capture my interest at first I moved on to Psykerion which grabbed me almost instantly and demanded many repeated listens and eventually led to a glowing five star review.

Six years separate the two albums by this band and the line-up is also considerably different with only guitarist and band leader Michael Harris and vocalist Ted Leonard of Enchant fame appearing on both albums. This time around the band was completed by Bobby Williamson on keyboards, Derek Blakley on bass, and Rob Stankiewicz on drums.

The two albums by Thought Chamber are really very different with Psykerion being a progressive Rock album with Metal elements and Angular Perceptions a 100% Metal album with some progressive elements. Whatever experimentation found here is firmly rooted in a Metal base. More precisely, this is a Neo-Classical Metal album very much in the style of Yngwie Malmsteen's Rising Force. Another band also heavily influenced by Malmsteen is Symphony X and there are also similarities between them and Thought Chamber. There are also hints of Jazz-Rock/Fusion on Angular Perceptions but none of the Eclectic and Symphonic Prog elements of Psykerion. While Angular Perceptions is an entry in an established style and genre; Psykerion transcends established genres.

The difference between the two albums of the band is not just in the style, but also in the quality of the material. On both releases the band is highly skilled on their respective instruments, no doubt about that, but the songs here are much less memorable than those found on the otherworldly Psykerion. Leonard sings very well on both albums, but here he gets less room to express himself as he is confined within the format of this form of Metal music.

Personally, I enjoy this kind of music and I find Angular Perceptions to be a good album in its own right. But, unlike Psykerion, its appeal is restricted to the Metal crowd and it will likely not be of much interest to progressive Rock fans in general.

"A cosmic storm beyond the norm"

I came across Thought Chamber because of the involvement of Ted Leonard and Bill Jenkins, vocalist and keyboard player respectively of the band Enchant, and this second album from the group entitled Psykerion simply blew me away! I cannot even remember if I have ever decided on a five star rating after such a small number of spins as for this stunningly brilliant album. Of course, I then confirmed my initial judgement with many further listens before writing this review and Psykerion is indeed a masterpiece. And it is a masterpiece not just of Prog Metal, but of progressive Rock in general. Songs like Light Year Time and Isle Of Bizen are pure Symphonic Prog with not much Metal about them at all, and Yes fans in particular are bound to be charmed by these wonderful songs.

The style of this album is an eclectic fusion of Prog Metal, Symphonic Prog, Neo-Classical Metal, and Jazz- Rock/Fusion. The musicianship is absolutely breathtaking throughout. The hour long album is brimming with good musical ideas presented to the listener in rapid succession with nothing ever outstaying its welcome. The twists and turns take the listener on a musical journey paraleing that of the travellers of the album's concept. The principal architect of the music is guitarist extraordinarie Michael Harris. On bass we have Jeff Plant and on drums Mike Haid. The performance of the entire band is extremely impressive and the aforementioned Bill Jenkins exerts himself far beyond what he did in Enchant while Leonard sings as well as ever but differently than in Enchant. Any comparisons between the music of Thought Chamber and that of Enchant are largely misplaced (though the track Breath Of Life sounds a bit like Enchant).

I can detect influences here from Yes, Dream Theater, Rick Wakeman, Symphony X, Emerson Lake & Palmer, Yngwie Malmsteen's Rising Force, Return To Forever, Al Di Meola, UK, and others. But these guys have more fun than any of these bands (well, except Wakeman maybe). Some of the aspects of the album concept and the somewhat odd song titles are examples of that. There are humorous overtones here, but there is also a more serious side. Indeed, I find the mixture of different moods, from joyous to melancholic and from witty to profound, sometimes within the same song, brilliant and reminiscent of Queen's A Night At The Opera.

In the title track (subtitled "The Question") the album's concept, which revolves around a quest "to reach Psykerion - this land beyond the sun", begins to unfold. Who the travellers are exactly and why they want to reach Psykerion remains alluringly obscure throughout, or as the lyrics has it: "The question remains...". A bit further on, we learn that the ships they are travelling on are called the Kerakryps and O.D.D. is the name of their navigating computer. As I understand it, the travellers visit various places along their journey including a visit to a "gentle giant" called Ikk! (This reminds vaguely of the part in Rick Wakeman's Journey To The Centre Of The Earth when the travellers of that story come across a primeval sheperd). Beyond these somewhat silly details of the story, there is thankfully a lot of room left for the listener's own imagination which I have always found is an attractive feature of an album concept. My own personal interpretation is that "Psykerion" stands for the unknown and "the quest" symbolizes humanity's eternal struggle to expand the frontiers of the known. For example, from the track Trancend: "Knowledge is an everlasting seed" and "we push the envelope until we surpass".

In sum, this music is mindbogglingly good and is the best music I have discovered in a very long time. Once it ends one wants to start it all over again. Unless they are allergic to any Metal elements this album is very highly recommended to all progressive Rock fans.

Thought Chamber is without hesitation one of my fav prog metal bands ever, specially because of their debut Angular perceptions, who was and is for me a damn excellent prog metal release. If the debut was from 2007 the second offer is coming some years later in 2013 named Pyskerion. Well, this is quite diffrent in musical terms and aswell in line up. First, only the head of the band Michael Harris is present and front man Ted Leonard from previous work, the rest of the 3 new members are from Enchant and Joe Stump. Second, musicaly speaking as I've said is diffrent then Angular perceptions, this is more towards in many places to progressive rock, some of the pieces (16 in number) have nothing in common with prog metal only slightly, it sounding like a more edgy Kansas to my ears. Anyway this is quite eclectic, the combination of prog metal with prog rock and jazzy elements makes from this second release an enjoyble ride for sure. The pieces are much shorter around 4-5 min with only 2 being lenhtier around 8-9. Each musicin shines and handle damn fine the instruments. Technicaly competent for sure, Pyskerion delivers what listner wants to hear, no weak moments here for sure, but with all that I prefer the debut more. All in all a fine album for sure, Thought Chamber is a brilliant prog metal band that anyone can find something intresting to discover.4 stars.

When you have a progressive metal act coming onto the scene well over a decade after Images & Words hit and they call themselves some variation on "(cognitive process) (indoor space)", you more or less know what you can expect: technical, flashy, showy, and sometimes cheesy progressive metal in a Dream Theater vein. Psykerion is Thought Chamber's second album and it's certainly a technically competent piece of work, but at the same time it often comes down to mere showboating rather than crafting music which actually makes an emotional connection with the listener. If you are very fond of the Dream Theater style of prog metal, it can't hurt to give this one a try - but then again, the band name already told you that.

PSYKERION is the 2nd album by THOUGHT CHAMBER. This is the first time i've heard of them much less heard them so this is my first taste of their brand of progressive metal that has been getting much attention and high praise. It is a concept album and is put into a story form that is told by a young boy genius named Avakus on the spaceship Karakryps-One which is on a mission of some sort in the galaxy known as Psykerion. The events that unfold cause this young boy to endure an existential quandary and this is all backed up by some extremely top notch musicianship. Michael Harris is the virtuoso guitarist and keyboard player who adds his idiosyncratic signature on most of the tracks. His interplay with bassist Jeff Plant, Mike Haid on drums and Bill Jenkins on more keyboards is one of the most exciting sounds i've heard in prog metal in a while. While they still reside on the Dream Theater branch of prog metal, they have sufficiently distanced themselves from being clones and have a refreshing futuristic feel that some of the older bands have failed to achieve.

I have listened to this quite a bit lately because it is some intense technical metal that steers clear of alienating the listener. This band really knows how to deliver some satisfying stuff that blends the technical and emotional seamlessly. The fast runs are always counterbalanced by slower parts and often the call-and-response of the instruments creates an atmosphere that feels like galaxies flying by outside the spaceship. The production is top notch as well with everything being mixed perfectly and the mixture of short instrumentals with longer vocal rich compositions is very brilliantly played out indeed. The vocals of Ted Leonard sometimes remind me of Fran Cosmo of Orion The Hunter and the later Boston since he has a high pitched voice that hits all the high notes effortlessly.

Everything that works about this album is absolutely great, but unfortunately this doesn't come off as a perfect album for me. The problem lies in the fact that a few of these tracks just stray from the sound that this band has crafted so well. It's especially true in the slower songs. They clearly pay tribute to their favorite 70s progsters. For example "Light Year Time" sounds to me like a Kansas meets Styx kind of tune. "Isles Of Bizen" reminds me so much of Yes' "And You And I" with its chord progressions that I can't help but start singing "A man conceived a moment's answers to the dream....." "Breath Of Life" sounds like it came from one of the gazillion Neal Morse projects (Ted's Spock's Beard days showing up here) and "Transcend" sounds like a long lost Kansas song with some serious spicing up of course. All of this ruins this as a perfect album for me but I still find some of the cream of the crop like "Kerakryps" to be highly exciting and very much looking forward to how this band develops their own sound further as well as hoping they ditch the blatant influences and pack them into more subtle forms of hero worshiping.

"Psykerion" is the 2nd full-length studio album by US progressive metal act Thought Chamber. The album was released through InsideOut Music in September 2013. There have been quite a few changes in the lineup since the debut and as a consequence the only remaining members of the lineup that recorded "Angular Perceptions (2007)" are band founder/guitarist Michael Harris and lead vocalist Ted Leonard (Enchant, Affector, Spock´s Beard).

While Michael Harris was the main composer on "Angular Perceptions (2007)" and remains to be on "Psykerion" the two albums are quite different in sound and style. You can still hear it´s the same band playing, but Thought Chamber have developed their sound significantly in the years between the two releases. While references to acts like Dream Theater, late eighties Fates Warning (tracks like "Psykerion: The Question" and "Recoil" feature the same dark atmosphere) and at times even early Psychotic Waltz (mostly because of Ted Leonard´s voice and singing style) are valid enough, Thought Chamber incorporate a lot of progressive rock elements on "Psykerion", which they didn´t do to this extent on the debut album, which was more of a "straight" progressive metal affair. As a result "Psykerion" is quite an eclectic release featuring a successful balance between progressive metal and progressive rock elements (tracks like "Light Year Time" and "Isle of Bizen" for example feature very few metal related elements). Probably because of the shared sci-fi lyrics and imagery I can´t help mention that "Psykerion" features quite a few similarities to "ReEvolution (2013)" by Cynthesis. Another great 2013 progressive metal release.

"Psykerion" features 16 tracks and a full playing time of 63:53 minutes. Some of the tracks are shorter instrumentals, interludes or intro/outros, but the song lengths are generally around the 3 - 5 minutes mark, with only two longer tracks out of the bunch and none of those two exceed the 10 minutes mark. The whole thing is packed in a powerful and well produced sound production. At times I feel the keyboards (leads) are slightly too high in the mix, but that´s a minor issue. The organ on the other hand are placed tastefully in the mix and provide the music with a nice organic warmth.

The musicianship are on a high level. In keeping with the eclectic nature of the music you´ll be exposed to both atmospheric playing and more challenging progressive parts with fast runs and tempo- and time signature changes in "classic" progressive metal style. Lead vocalist Ted Leonard delivers a very convincing performance, but if you are already familiar with some of his previous work, that´s really no surprise. He is a greatly skilled singer with a distinct sounding voice and a personal vocal style.

"Psykerion" reeks of class all the way through. The musicianship are strong, the sound production professional and well sounding and the songwriting is intriguing and adventurous. All in all a high quality product in every way possible. A 4.5 star (90%) rating is deserved.

With half of tracks being interludes and goofy sci-fi titles such as Kerakryps and Behind the eyes of ikk (which actually mixes sci-fi metal and Guns'n'Roses-style boogie metal), you could pardon one for being skeptical. But luckily I knew this studio project from their debut, a competent and energetic take on familiar Dream Theater format. The difference from the debut is that second album relies less on epic metal plus shredding formula (although there are plenty solos here), and pays more homage to 70s classicist influences. Tracks that wouldn't be out of place on a folksy Yes or Kansas. Some bluesy and jazzy influences as well. The structure of the album with interludes and shortened songs is designed to give a cinematic experience for this story-driven concept. No, there is no easy way out to listen to the proper tracks and skip the fillings. You'll have to listen it all. But it will be trippy and remind you of a chopped salad.

55 minutes of energetic, mostly instrumental wankery (in a good sense) enters one ear and flies right out of other. Not that there's anything particularly wrong with this album. Technically impressive (guitar-oriented, but bass deserves special mention too), even moderately catchy, vocalist slightly weak for this kind of pompous music, but fairly good. Derivative, but what is not nowadays? Points of reference would be Dream Theater, of course, followed by likes of Iron Maiden, Symphony X, Rush, neoclassical metal, some jazzy-funky playing. No harsh stuff thankfully. There is just little for my ears to grab on to. Strictly for hardcore fans of Dream Theater-style progressive metal. Somewhere between 3 and 4 stars. But let's encourage guys like that, they seem to be having fun with what they are doing.

They might not be the same band anymore, technically speaking, but Thought Chamber has done me a service with their new album "Psykerion". Yes, indeed, these guys have been one of the few progressive metal bands this year that have reminded me that prog metal isn't dead in the water when it comes to invention and creativity. "Psykerion" is rather unique in many ways, so the first rule of listening to this album is to forget other prog metal albums from this year.

Thought Chamber has swapped out a few members, now containing a new bassist in Jeff Plant, a new keyboardist in Bill Jenkins, and a new drummer in Mike Haid. These three guys, along with former members Michael Harris (guitars) and Ted Leonard (vocals), have crafted an amazingly genius prog metal album with hefty doses of space rock, psychedelia, and epic structures. Somehow they pull of the latter even though many of the tracks are around three minutes in length. Indeed, they get right to the point on most of the tracks, never messing around, but instead gives us incredible jams and crazy passages galore. Admirable indeed.

Well, let me be more specific. First of all, the guitars are heavy and deep, and feature outstanding riffs and some excellent solos. Yet, the keyboards are spacey and ethereal. These two instruments play off of each other so well, and give this album a vast range of tone. On the other hand, the keys are nothing normal. They may have a spacey tone, but they also have a wacky, unearthly vibe that could only be likened to Haken, in my opinion. So, add to all this some beautifully composed bass lines (including some solos) and fantastic drums that are never overbearing, and you have a recipe for success.

Now, I know that Ted Leonard has been busy of late. He's got Spock's Beard and Affector on his plate, as well as Enchant. But this guy can sing! He has shown it time and again, and I think this album may almost rival his Spock's Beard outing this year in relation to his vocal performance. His beautiful upper range fits perfectly with the sci-fi tone of the music, but his entire range is used on this album, too.

So, incredible music and terrific vocals are certainly trademarks of this album. However, I must confess that I can't get into the lyrical content. It's some sort of sci-fi story, but I haven't found it overly interesting. Maybe this is because the music is just so darn distracting, I don't know. So, for me, the lyrical content is somewhat negligible here, and so I can't fully connect.

Regardless, however, this album is a must-hear for prog metal fans. The complexity and the eccentricity of the music is something that must be heard by any serious fan, and I will say with certainty that this album has been worth the six year wait that Thought Chamber provided.