What we have here is the debut of North Carolina heavy metal duo, Transcendent. Although this is a new band, it comes from musicians that have been working on their craft for a while. Instrumentalist David Ashe has been playing since at least the early 1990s with classical guitar performance and playing in local Christian metal bands, citing John Petrucci, Alex Skolnick, George Lynch and Rex Carroll as influences. In 2023, he was working on an instrumental metal album when he noticed the music needed a voice. After doing a demo song “Under The Bloodshed” with Dale Thompson of Bride, he put out an ad for a full-time vocalist. This is where Paul Bowman comes in. Paul had been plying his craft for many years in local cover bands, even recording in a couple of original records. He responded to David’s ad and Transcendent was born. Invoking the names of Dream Theater and Queensryche, they claim a progressive metal/hard rock with a powerful message.
Debuts are the most unpredictable albums, especially from musicians that you haven’t heard before. Usually there is a raw creative spark at the center with rough edges that make the album either endearing or annoying. Recording is a different skill than playing music which drives that rough edge in my opinion. Transcendent doesn’t break that trend. There is much promise with some weak spots, but overall a solid effort worth noting.
“Awaken” comes across as a heavy metal album driven by solid rhythm guitar work and period appropriate vocals that hearken to the 80s and at times 90s. Their sound doesn’t wield the same dynamics and texture changes to be progressive, but the keyboards provide harmonic underpinnings that give a little of that progressive flavor. I wasn’t impressed with the first spin, but with subsequent listens, it grew on me owed in part to the sleek production quality.
Much
The song structures are not formulaic. Although there is a little bit of the usual verse-chorus structure to many of the songs, there was an attempt to develop in between sections and instrumental breaks. The usual texture is the heavy riffing with a few breaks interspersed that often felt a little too short. If they employed more patience in the building back up of the layers to get back into heavy metal territory, that would have helped. However, they nail song endings, my favorite being on “Here Comes the Reaper.”
I liked the rhythm guitar work the most on this release. I could focus on David’s riffs for hours and stay quite content. There is a good mix of hobbling odd-time riffs that mess with your balance as well as solid even-time riffs to stomp your foot to. Often the riffs have a tonic emphasis, so the keyboards come in to provide more of that harmonic color to songs, making it one of the easiest elements of progressive metal to spot. The keys aren’t flashy, but adds needed musical depth.
The vocals were hit-or-miss for me. When Paul kept in his baritone range, the music seemed to jive much better and felt whole. However, when he started pushing the upper register, it sounded out of tune. There were moments where I would have liked an additional vocal layer to give the chorus some more meat, especially since the vocals were a little lower in the mix. “Beyond the Veil” is a great example, because the chorus vocals land well, but I can’t easily pull it out of the mix.
The reason for the poor mix on vocals may have to do with an oft competing lead guitar in the same frequencies, not giving the voice enough sonic space. Much of the lead guitar work was slathered over areas, lacking real musical purpose, making it hard to hear that inspirational message. However, the solo efforts hit well musically and technically such as the back and forth in the opener, “Free Your Soul.”
All in all this is not a bad debut with some good musical moments and excellent riffing with modern production quality. It just has some rough edges to it. With some concerted effort, I expect this duo to overcome and deliver a quality followup. I’m looking forward to hearing what comes next from these guys.
Rating: 7.0/10
Written by Sean Bailey
Tracklist
1 – Free Your Soul
2 – Beyond the Veil
3 – Don’t Lie to Me
4 – Awaken
5 – Unseen Battle
6 – Suffocate
7 – Here Comes the Reaper
8 – Crack the Sky
Transcendent is:
Paul Bowman – vocals
David Ashe – instruments
Release Date: July 26, 2024
Record Label: Roxx Records
Social Media: Facebook | Instagram | YouTube | Bandcamp
Video for ‘Unseen Battle’
Video for ‘Under the Bloodshed’ (Demo with Dale Thompson)