Hailing from picturesque Kimberly, British Columbia — which is actually closer to Montana’s Glacier National Park than anywhere geographically challenged Americans might have heard of in British Columbia — comes progressive metal quartet Phaeton. Earlier this year the band released their third full-length, Neurogenesis a collection of songs with dizzying and intricate salutations to Cynic, BTBAM, Meshuggah and fellow BC-ers Anciients (who hail from the more recognizable Vancouver). Today we present the play through video of the album’s fourth single “Augmented.” Normally, we frown upon play through videos around these parts, but gave Phaeton a mulligan because not only does the track rule in a structured ‘tear-that-math-textbook-up!’ sort of way, but also because it reminds us a teensy bit of the classic Animusic digital video series.
About the video, the band says: “The basic structure of ‘Augmented’ was brought to the band by lead guitarist Daniel Airth, and the rest of us fleshed out the bones with our own musical input. There’s a loose interconnected theme running through the entire Neurogenesis album that deals with the dangers and concerns of all the startling technological breakthroughs and developments and inventions that have erupted upon humanity ever since the 21st Century began — and how it’s not all for the betterment of humanity, in either the short term or the long run. ‘Augmented’ was composed from the standpoint of the forthcoming singularity, where organic human brains will interface with nanobots or cybernetic implants to create true cyborgs. It’s one thing to applaud the unending march of human progress, but if you blindly cross these sort of biological boundaries just in the name of scientific braggadocio, then we all stop being human. And some of us would rather not be rendered obsolete. These very real worries were sculpted out in the dynamic flow of the song.
“We filmed the video in the rehearsal space of our good friend Mike Honeyman, bassist/vocalist for Kimberley BC’s legendary ska-punk power trio The Honeymans. Mike converted a big chunk of his basement into a compact version of CBGBs, complete with sound system and lighting rigs. His band not only jams there, but it’s a cool ultra-intimate live venue from time to time. Even though the space doesn’t have the authentic stale-urine reek of what CBGBs had in its seedy Bowery heyday, we still felt right at home…even if the only audience around was ourselves. And kudos to our very own Kevin Thiessen for whipping up the CGI animation of the creepy robot scientist in the fog-swept laboratory; who knew you could jam us into a foaming Erlenmeyer flask?”
And about their newest concoction, they say: “Neurogenesis is a continuation of the sounds we’ve established on our first two albums, with more of a focus on concision without sacrificing the imagination. We’ll carry you away to the nebulae and you’ll enjoy every light-minute of it. Visceral thrill and intellectual expansion song after song after song.”
If you’re down with their sound (and confidence), check ‘em out at the links below.
The post Video/Single Premiere: Getting Tech-y With Phaeton’s “Augmented” appeared first on Decibel Magazine.