PHANTASM Review of Show at the Troc, Philadelphia, PA on December 30, 2008

The Trocadero, Philadelphia, PA hosted an excellent close out to the 2008 year that included two outstanding performances from Phantasm and New Liberty. I was there to cover the band New Liberty since I missed their performance at Risqué in Philadelphia early in the year, but found this delightful band to enjoy beforehand.

Phantasm, the second to last set of the night that held itself in the intimate setting of the balcony for an all ages show. If one has not heard of Phantasm the band - for shame, this band uses and fuses funk and metal into a sound delight tango that could dance and pulsate with the Aurora Borealis. They were a metal version of Pink Floyd pushing the prog-metal to new waves that made the audience sway and groove with new element thrust at them. The Steven Ross vocals were clean and unhurried, mixing with the music for provided a hypnotic tone like that of the Doors. Steven was playful with the crowd, never holding them beneath him nor giving any ego over the band or the music. The band played a tight set, never crossing on top of each other in a reckless manner that sometimes occurs in a prog-jazz-metal performance.

Aaron White's bass playing was reminiscent of the late Cliff Burton of Metallica, with the comfort of his bass, using it not as purely as not instrument, but also as an extension of himself, physical and even spiritual and he had the music speaking with a tone not usually heard from a 3-piece band. The bass sounds were deeper than most as it became more creative in the use of feedback and no using sampling to achieve the uniqueness of their sound. His backup vocals assisted Ross where and when needed on cue, never late, and at times his vocals did drop out, and it was not the cause of the sound at the Troc. Perhaps it was due to what the songs required or perhaps it was something deeper, a musical form of voodoo, as the vocals were to be subliminal.

There was an element of spiritual voodoo occurring that night in their set, that ended with a head banging grove that was faster, intensely challenging for the three-member band to convey in the musical complexion that should be played before Dream Theater would take the stage. The final performance ended with George Clinton, jazz-funk blend, and had a jazz drumming unlike anything heard before as Aaron and Steven joined Jay Yachetta as one human form of a 6-armed drummer and surpassing the any drummer machine capabilities. This one catalyst had three variations of drumming occurring at once and ran for approximately 4 minutes of this insanity that was beautifully blossoming.

Their music was expelling across the galaxy like a voice confessing love in a storm.