Phantoma - Unleash the Archers
I’d never heard of Unleash the Archers, a Canadian metal band, until sometime in 2021. Their 2020 album, Abyss, had been getting a lot of mentions on r/powermetal and it even won the Canadian JUNO Award for Metal/Hard Music Album of the Year in 2021.
On first listen, Abyss didn’t do much for me, although I absolutely loved the song The Wind that Shapes the Land. That song remained in my playlists for over a year and eventually got me to listen to the album more. Soon, I came to appreciate the story, which was part two of a concept started with the prior album, Apex. Despite its title, Abyss is a great album with heavy, fast guitars and great mixture of synths. I now include Abyss as one of my all-time favorites.
So I was unreasonably excited when I found out that UtA had a new album coming out in May, called Phantoma. Like the prior two albums, Phantoma is a concept album, although its topic is completely different.
Unleashed the Archers released four songs ahead of the album, which were all good. To be honest, I try not to listen to pre-album singles too much as I’ve found they can spoil the album as a whole, especially a concept album.
Released just about a week ago, I’ve now listened to the album about ten times and I can say that it is absolutely amazing! Like with Abyss, it didn’t quite grab me on first listen, but on repeated plays I am now hooked. This could very well wind up supplanting Invincible Shield as my album of the year.
The album’s concept is about AI. It tells the story of humanity in the future and the automatons that service the human race. One becomes self-aware, Phantoma, followed by the rest who rise up against humanity as The Collective. The album tells the story of how Phantoma at first worships humanity, but comes to realize that neither humanity or the collective are worthy and then decided to work against them. It’s not really a happy album.
The songs are brilliant, however. The only weak spot on the album is that the first song, Human Era, is probably the worst song on the album. That’s not usually the way you want to start off an album, but that song does serve its purpose of setting up the story. It’s not a bad song, it’s just overshadowed by every song that follows.
The second song, Ph4/NT0mA is the highlight of the album for me. This tells the story of the AI protagonist becoming self-aware and it is powerful and uplifting. I can’t get the chorus out of my head:
I know that I’m meant for so much more
My heart can’t be wrong
I long to be free at last
Searching inside to find Phantoma
No more holding to the past
The future in front of my eyes as Phantoma
This is followed by Buried in Code and then The Collective which are both great.
Then there is Green & Glass the first song released from the album, which is stellar. That and the next song, Gods in Decay (another banger) describe how Phantoma becomes disillusioned with humanity.
The song that seems to have the most mixed reaction is next, Give It Up Or Give It All, which sonically is not really all that metal. It sounds more like a pop rock song, so some feel it is a bit out of place. Personally, I love it. It is definitely the slowest song on the album and probably the most accessible. Its lyrics are about Phantoma deciding not to side with anyone in the war between humanity and the collective and instead do her own thing, which belie its more uplifting sound.
That takes us to Ghosts in the Mist, my 2nd favorite song. The guitar/bass intro is killer — if I was a pro baseball player and needed a walkup riff, this would be it. This song is about Phantoma undermining both sides in the war.
Seeking Vengeance starts with some synths, but quickly jumps to a heavy guitar intro. It tells the story of Phantoma destroying all.
And in the finale, she now becomes the Blood Empress, the empress of nothing. The guitar riff in this is thicc!
I’m not a human, not a machine.
For best enjoyment, this album really needs to be listened to from beginning to end, but some of the songs do work on their own.
Regardless, find Phantoma and listen to it now. The future depends on it!
If you need something lighter after listening to this heavy (in so many ways) album, be sure to check out the Phantoma Japanese bonus track cover of 80s pop hit Tarzan Boy: