Hailing from the flatlands of The Netherlands, this was the band’s fifth and final release and was the follow up to the successful and super awesome, Duality. I am a huge fan of this band and was lucky enough to see them Live once. They are the purveyors of the finest technical metal with huge amounts of D-tuned riffage that hits the perfect spot for me. Since Daniel de Jong joined the band in 2010, they evolved in huge strides and I was super disappointed that they called it a day.
If first track, Oceans Collide, doesn’t shake your tree then their brand of awesome is not for you. After the brutal onslaught of the first track, the beauty of the New Horizons intro is just sublime, before we hit warp 10 and the main riff and groove kicks in. Brutally heavy and epic! A huge sounding choppy riff and groove announce the arrival of Shaping A Single Grain Of Sand. The ending of this song is just freaking insane!!! I love the dark and shade of the vocals that change in a blink of an eye. Don’t be fooled by the aggression, as there is so much melody on this record. Side 1 closes out with Illuminate The Trail, and the intensity continues – this is the band at their heaviest.
Some epic drumming is the intro to Side 2 instrumental opener, Meander. The supremely heavy returns with Erosion, and I love the middle section that leads into maximum riffage to the outro. The Fourth Prime has an evil riff and groove with an odd time signature that screws with your brain at the beginning. There is a whole albums worth of material and riffs in this one song alone. Absolute monster track! The second instrumental piece, Zman, follows and is a keyboard atmospheric chill, before album closer, Timeless, assaults your senses again with a choppy riff and beat that ends in epic style.
It took me a while to fully appreciate this album as I thought previous effort Duality was the beans. Upon reflection I think Duality was more immediately accessible, whereas Phenotype is a lot more complex and it took time to sink in. Now I love it wholeheartedly, and I am totally bummed out that they have called it a day.
10/10 from The Grooveman.
