Album Review: Phantom Elite - Titanium

It's nice when a project sees two people come together to raise their personal bar, which happens less often than you might think. For all the people who are currently engaged in multiple bands or projects, only a small number of them have created a secondary outlet that is superior (at least to me) to their original claim to fame. I won't bother listing them for you, but let's just say that once you become established with your sound and identity, breaking out of that to make something better becomes very difficult.

Phantom Elite is able to do that, however. The combination of Sander Gommans from After Forever (not a member of the band, but who produced the record and contributed songwriting) and Marina La Torraca from Exit Eden (the fun metal band covering pop songs - I wouldn't mind a second album from them one of these days) is more than that previous sentence might lead you to believe. Over these eleven tracks, they put together a strong album of modern metal that is the best thing I've heard from either contributor.

Being modern, Phantom Elite's sound blends traditional metal guitar playing with bits of tech, djent, and a hugely saturated sound that tries to be as heavy as possible. It can be a bit much, but Marina's up to the task of keeping up with that much power from the band. It's a similar formula to what Nightmare was doing on their album "Aeternam" last year, but here we find a better balance between the metallic crunch and the vocal power.

Marina also proves to be a bit of a vocal chameleon, shifting her tone and approach to fit the song. "Conjure Rains" opens the album with a symphonic bent, and her voice has classical elements to fit that dramatic atmosphere. When "The Race" goes into heavier territory, she belts the song, letting a bit of grit shine through to amplify the energy of the chorus. She is singing for the song, which is an underrated aspect of a singer's skill set. It shows a deft touch to be able to mold yourself to make the song its most effective.

I find the band is at their best when they keep things simple and focused. On "Diamonds And Dark", they spend the verses going through some Gothic overtones I don't think are as effective as they do, but the chorus punches through with some real power by being more straight-forward. It raises the song into something quite enjoyable.

The only downside to the album is "Worst Part Of Me", which feature guest growling vocals. I don't know if it's the particular tone of them, or if they simply aren't necessary, but however brief their appearance is, it ruins whatever good the song was building up to. The later guest appearance from Amanda Somerville may also be unnecessary, but she and Marina have more chemistry from their work in Exit Eden, and Amanda fits what the rest of the album has been doing all along. The one instance of growling just feels out of place.

Other than that one misstep, Phantom Elite is doing very good things on this record. They can do heavy, they can do intricate, and they always keep things melodic. Marina's the sort of singer you can build a great band around, and there's potential for Phantom Elite to get there. This is a good step in that direction.