Phantom :: Phoenix - Stellar Circuits
Stellar Circuits is a Prog-Metal band from North Carolina, and another new-to-me experience that I was excited to dive into after my music contact reached out about it. Prog and by extension, Prog-Metal, is a genre I love checking out, with several of my favorite bands falling in this realm (Tool, Mudvayne, Mastodon, System of a Down, Gojira, etc). Stellar Circuits is a welcome addition to the scene in my opinion, tapping into Tool and Deftones influences with the dichotomy between loud aggression and controlled softness, as well as dynamic time signatures. The band is releasing their sophomore album, Phantom :: Phoenix November 14th, so let’s dive into the tracks that stuck out to me!
The opening track, “I See Your Spirit”, instantly reminds me of Arsonists Get All the Girls, with its chaotic guitars and vocals. However, the song also finds mellow moments amidst the chaos to mesmerize you and bring you back down to Earth. “Elegant Illusion” has a fun, almost nu-metal vibe for parts of it that remind me of the 90s/early 2000s, like a P.O.D track. “The War Within” is one of the heaviest tracks on the record, with Ben’s screams sounding like Mike Hranica (The Devil Wears Prada) in his prime. “Bury the Ashes” can be fast and frenetic, but it has moments of calm like the majority of the songs on this record. The intro cleans are yet again mesmerizing and feel like they’re drawing me in, laid over a riff reminiscent of a Breaking Benjamin-sounding riff. I especially enjoy the drumming on the track, hitting its peak around 1:40. Finally, “Same Page” sees the most experimentation with sound and time signatures on this record, and I not only enjoyed it but also wish the record had a little more of this experimentation.
The record thankfully does not suffer from the same production plague that has been infecting recent Metal releases lately: sounding too sterile. There’s plenty of fuzz and warmth here. One complaint I do have though is that the songs can start to blend together, with the song structures following a similar pattern to the one before it. There aren’t as many moments of exploration and experimentation that I’d expect from a Prog-Metal band, which disappointed me a little bit. Regardless, I had a great time with this record and strongly suggest people check out the tracks I highlighted in this review!