Forever in Transit – A Coming to Terms

Forever in Transit is an American progressive metal band that I honestly never heard before. They’ve been around for a few years and they currently have 3 albums released. “A Coming to Terms” is their latest offering and it was released just about a month ago. It’s been a while since I jumped into an album completely clueless as to what I was about to hear, so it’s been fun to do it with this album. But was it worth it? Well, it’s certainly a compelling piece of work that offers some impressive musicianship, creativity, and a captivating artistic vision. But it also has its drawbacks. Let’s dive in.

Genre-wise “A Coming to Terms” is sitting neatly between classic and modern progressive metal, with a sound that could be categorized as either. It has an electronic edge to it, and some sliced riff moments that almost sound djenty, but the atmosphere can easily be compared to early Ayreon or Porcupine Tree. It has a spacey, almost psychedelic vibe, that is complemented by confusing metaphorical imagery used a lot in the lyrics (see ‘I Cling to Threads’). So, we get this strange mix of technical and atmospheric that works brilliantly in a number of ways, but not so much in others.

Compositionally, it is a very interesting and satisfying album. It has its catchy moments, often rooted in repetitive vocal lines or themes that easily grip the listener, as well as a lot of groove and immersive atmosphere. The album actually kicks off by building atmosphere and getting you in a cozy, spacey mood.  And I feel like once that mood is set, it stays as an undertone to the whole album, despite the music developing in many different directions.

Forever in Transit – Let Go Your Earthly Tether

The more energetic dimension of the music comes mostly from the riffs and drums, and sometimes from the vocals. The guitar parts go from straightforward riffs to complex noodling, odd time signatures and spontaneous guitar leads. The drums are quite technical, even when the music isn’t going fast or heavy, mostly by using subtle but complex transitions and details. The bass lines are also quite complex, technical and whacky, although they don’t ever jump ahead of the guitars in the mix. And when the instrumentation actually does change direction to some heavy and dynamic moments, then you see guitars, drums and bass jumping to the forefront of the music all together (‘Enter the Void’). These are the parts that sound most like Dream Theater. However, when the vocals are leading (most of the time), the riff energy is slightly taken back, and does its thing a bit more subtly. That makes the combination of energy and atmosphere very interesting for this album. What is most in the background (keyboard and sound design) and what is most to the forefront (vocals) is atmospheric and melodic, while everything in between (drums, guitars, bass) is fairly groovy, dynamic, complex and technical. From a mixing and mastering point, this album is basically an atmosphere-energy sandwich.

Production-wise, there are also some drawbacks, mostly in the texture of the instruments. The guitars feel a bit mushy and lacking attack, and the drums are a bit plasticky in sound, especially the kick drum. This isn’t a very big problem because with the vibe of this album, energy and attack isn’t necessarily what you need, so it doesn’t break the artistic coherence, but it does feel just slightly underwhelming when the heavier sections kick in.

Forever in Transit – Streams of Thought

Then we get to the vocals, and this part is interesting. In terms of tone and energy, the clean vocal delivery is quite monotone. There is hardly any use of vibrato or emotional volatility and the melodic lines also mostly avoid moving too far up or down, so the energy feels very constant. And I think this is done, just like the keyboard background, in order to create a meditational, reflective atmosphere that the lyrics are then matched up to. The lyrical content takes the listener on a journey from a place of questioning the nature of one’s identity, to a place of self-acceptance. It’s like an inner struggle, where the desired calm and peace of mind is always kept in sight, but the struggles that come along the way, and the difficulty of letting go of certain patterns, also peer through, expressed in the heavier sections of the album. There are even some screaming vocals in the beginning of the album, where more of the inner turmoil comes through. The music gets more melodic, theme-focused, and spacey as the journey approaches its end.

When seeing the album as a whole, the main idea gets across, so mission accomplished in terms of artistic coherence. But throughout the album, I feel there are elements that don’t work quite as well as they’re intended to. The screams aren’t all that great in my view, and the frustration that should be expressed through them doesn’t come across as powerful as I feel the song requires. Also, as previously mentioned, the slightly underwhelming sound textures on the instruments hinder the clarity of the music a bit. And despite them making sense in this context, the one-sided vocals also start feeling a little repetitive by the end. I honestly can’t tell how many of these criticisms are actual problems with the album, or just matters of my own preference, so I guess make of it what you will. For me, it was an enjoyable, and at times, very impressive album, particularly on the instrumental performances, but it didn’t leave that positive impression in all the details.

Track List:

1. 1. Let Go Your Earthly Tether (00:00)
   2. What Lies Beneath (00:00)
   3. Streams of Thought (00:00)
   4. I Cling to Threads (00:00)
   5. Enter the Void (00:00)
   6. Empty and Become Wind (00:00)
   7. A Coming to Terms (00:00)