EPK – Phaeton – Between Two Worlds (2023) (INB Music)
Publicist – Jon Asher – jon[@]ashermediarelations[.]com
For Fans Rush, Dream Theater, King Crimson, Opeth, Gojira, Meshuggah, Mastodon, Between the
Buried and Me, Animals as Leaders
Band: Phaeton
Album Title: Between Two Worlds
Release Date: April 21, 2023
Label: INB Music
Distribution: INB Music
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“An instrumental quartet from Kimberley, British Columbia, Phaeton are skillfully blurring the boundaries between old- and new-school prog metal. Their second album, Between Two Worlds, covers a vast amount of ground, from intricate post-djent riffing, to indulgent prog pomp, and no single outstays its welcome. The nine-minute title track is a particularly impressive display of showboating and smart songwriting.” – Prog Mag – Dom Lawson
It’s Prog Mag’s brand new Tracks Of The Week! (April 21, 2023) – “Hailing from Columbia, Canada’s Phaeton are an interplanetary instrumental heavy prog metal quartet and as their name suggests, they are fascinated with astronomy, and the idea of life itself, in all its beauty and wonder and majesty, emerging from an instant of catastrophic cosmic violence. The epic Between Two Worlds is the title track of the band’s latest album.”
“Phaeton are relatively unknown, especially compared to the above mentioned bands (scale The Summit, Animals as Leaders), but they definitely hold their own on Between Two Worlds. All members absolutely kill it on their instruments, the songs are wonderfully arranged and produced, and there’s plenty of variety here to hold our attention. Instrumental prog might be a little talked about genre, but Phaeton belong in the conversation.” – Heavy Music Headquarters
““Between Two Worlds,’ the song, is the magnum opus of Phaeton: a progressive instrumental metal rollercoaster, almost second to none. This impressive track is filled with power chords galore, outstanding melodies, neck breaking riffs, almost inimitable solos and lots of tempo changes and variety; in other words, you never get bored here, even as the song clocks in over the nine minutes mark!” – Rock United
“…a killer album indeed, wonderfully arranged and produced; a superb prog metal opus where the music almost makes you dizzy, but most of all longing for more indeed. “Between Two Worlds” to me is one of the absolute highlights of this year, a unique twist and rollercoaster of progressive, instrumental metal, highly recommended indeed: especially suitable for fans of Rush, Dream Theater and Liquid Tension Experiment. Play it LOUD and you will be hooked, listening tip: “Monsoon.”” – Rock United
“All metal influences flow into the respective songs and riffs and power chords are widely spread. The sound of the opener “Predestination” is very reminiscent of GHOST.” – Hellfire Magazin
“”Between Two World” was very competently arranged and recorded by PHAETON. Prog fans, who like sounds and virtuosity above all, will be well served with the disc.” – PowerMetal.de
“PHAETON releases an instrumental album in which the voice is not lacking; a nervous, boosted opus where the frank and limpid musicality makes you dizzy, where the notes invite you to travel in space to another dimension, where harmony is combined with controlled djent power; innovative music, on modern math metal-prog.” – Profil Prog
“If you’re open minded in your choice of Metal genres, you should feel free to let this instrumental work slip through your ears. It takes a little getting used to, so completely without singing. But if you get involved and listen carefully, one or the other will surely like something. The whole thing should appeal to fans of RUSH or DREAM THEATER.” – Hellfire Magazine
“Top-tier instrumental prog-metal-math music from the East Kootenay region performed by a quartet of veteran musicians.” – Stuart Derdeyn (The Vancouver Sun)
“The sound on all seven tracks is huge and if there was a “best sounding hammer-ons” award then March of the Synthetics could be a contender.” – Stuart Derdeyn (The Vancouver Sun)
“An epic Progressive Metal listening experience.” – Trevor Hatter (BeatRoute Magazine)
“This badass band makes a devastating impact with their high velocity musical assault.” – Time Lord (Progarchy)
“A sparkling, sizzling debut from PHAETON, taking us on a futuristic musical journey, with deep roots in the ancient past.” – Stephen Conrad (Progressive Rock Fanatics)
Band: Phaeton
Album Title: Between Two Worlds
Release Date: April 21, 2023
Label: INB Music
Distribution: INB Music
Track Listing:
1. Predestination – 4:57
2. Oceans of Time – 6:44
3. Terra Australis – 4:42
4. Monsoon – 6:06
5. Refraction – 4:48
6. Geomorphic – 4:51
7. Magma Chamber – 6:09
8. Between Two Worlds – 9:21
Album Length: 47:40
Album Credits:
– All songs performed by: Phaeton
– All songs written by: Phaeton
– Produced by: Phaeton
– Mixed by: Kevin Thiessen
– Mastered by: Jamie Sitar
– Album Artwork by: Dark Days Design
– Performing Rights Affiliation: SOCAN
Album Band Line Up:
Kevin Thiessen – Lead & Rhythm Guitars, Keyboards
Daniel Airth – Lead & Rhythm Guitars
Ferdy Belland – Electric & Fretless Bass
Colin Righton – Drums & Percussion
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The album as a whole:
“Between Two Worlds” was a major step up for us in Phaeton, which is a big thing to say, as we were already extremely proud of what we accomplished on our debut album. As a prog-metal band that’s strictly instrumental, we need to be sharp and clever to grab people’s ears when there’s nobody singing, and the melody lines of the twin guitars are what draw the listener’s focus and take them on an emotional journey – which is the classic goal of all instrumental rock. And there’s certainly no ‘sophomore slump’ happening here! We pushed ourselves as musicians, we pushed ourselves as instrumentalists, and we pushed ourselves as a unit to create something that had to at least be on par with the first album – and we surpassed all our expectations. We’re hoping that fans of prog-metal find something enjoyable in these tunes, and will urge them into repeating listening, and we hope all the twists and turns and corners and swerves we’ve woven together will surprise and delight. And with us re-energized for live performance, we aim to convince the world that you can say so much…without saying a word.
Track by Track:
1. PREDESTINATION: This was the perfect song to open the album with, as it contains all the elements that Phaeton prides itself on: Colin Righton’s jazzy flutterings on the drums before he kicks into double-bass abandon and blast-beat fury; Kevin Thiessen’s ever-fascinating rhythm guitar, spelling out jazz-fusion chords with metal attack; Daniel Airth’s searing leads, and Ferdy Belland’s aggressive counter-melodic hyperdrive attack on bass. Stops and starts and seeming chaos and then the killer riffs and the impressive harmony leads fall on everybody’s head. Triumphant beauty and growling anger through amplified wires and wood. Crazy time signatures that almost topple off the cliff, but the catchy killer grooves make all the sense in the world. And on it goes.
2. OCEANS OF TIME: This kicks off as a banger and bangs away just long enough to catch you off-guard when Kevin’s spider-groove riff kicks back into half-time. And just when you’ve gotten used to this new theme – BOOM! Another new theme! And another! Is this just one song, or four songs welded together? Nope. Just one. And hey! Another new theme, is where Kevin and Daniel shine with harmonic interplay and trading lines. And WHOA! You thought the song was over? Think again! As with everything else we write, this tune isn’t designed for an ignorable background drone. You really gotta follow the bouncing ball on this one – or at least the bouncing riffs.
3. TERRA AUSTRALIS: The intro to this one always kills me, what with Kevin’s weird jazz chords trading off against the crunch chords and the tapping, and then the groove sets in the lead guitar get to work. When the complicated melodies really get revving up, you can almost hear the tortured squeak of our helpless tendons as we desperately crawl our fretting fingers across the fretboard in pretzel patterns. There’s a slight reprieve where we bring it down and present you with another hummable melody, and then things just start getting ridiculous again and it’s Phull On Phaeton.
4. MONSOON: Daniel brought this one into the band and proves that he’s the Canadian King of the Killer Riff. After the kickoff crunch riffs set the mood, here comes a spooky halftime riff with a spookier guitar lead on it, and then another Killer Riff in quasi-swung time stabs out of the speakers. If Kevin is Phaeton’s version of a traditional Classical Composer (mind you, one with a 7-string Ibanez), then Daniel is our Classic Metalhead (one with a 7-string Schechter). Whereas Kevin’s songwriting style usually threads a string of different interlocking themes, Daniel knows how to capture the ears of even non-prog listeners by repeating the familiar themes, albeit with slightly different punctuations which are, to use formal musical terminology – Hella Cool.
5. REFRACTION: This tune opens with what may at first lick seem to be a happy day at the beach, but the volleyball game ends soon enough when Colin’s drums pick it up and then the major-9th power chords and the modal guitar leads start crazying up the works. Thought you could follow it easily enough? WRONG! More standout grooves and snappy riffs. The reggae-ish breakdown in the middle comes across almost like (Herakles help us) the Police, but then the djenty guitars envelop the proceedings and we’re back into Symphony X again. Confused yet? Don’t be. Listen to it again. See? It’s all awesome.
6. GEOMORPH: Another of Daniel’s works. The moody intro is cool enough, and then the World’s Greatest string-skipping Kissoff Riff rattles across the Schechter and gets immediately followed up by another crunchasaurus riff and then it’s Melodic Breakdown time, which gives a nod back to the intro, but then what’s this? The scene is now set for a dramatic build-up and then – hey, is that a synthesizer? No, it’s Kevin doing his thing, and then GADZOOKS! It’s yet another crushing riff (Dan’s got thousands of them, truly), and then here’s the World’s Greatest string-skipping Kissoff Riff! Could the song be ending? Not a chance; keep listening – what? Another killer riff? What else did you expect?
7. MAGMA CHAMBER: Colin really shines on this one. He honestly is one of the best-kept drumming secrets in all of Canadian Metal, and no, you can’t have him. Kevin’s ricocheting all over the bloody place on his guitar, whether it’s the hey-mom-look-what-I-can-do tapping frenzy or the cultured djent of his rhythm riffs. And no, we didn’t deliberately rip off Yes with the breakdown riff. And no, we didn’t deliberately rip off Rush when we moved out of the breakdown riff. But then we leave all that controversy behind with a spooky underwater-bass breakdown before Kevin and Daniel boot open the hatches on another djenty-noodly detour. The halftime groove doesn’t last long as Daniel and Kevin really start pulling out all the stops.
8. BETWEEN TWO WORLDS: Our title-track Magnus Opus, all nine and a half minutes of it. The solar wind is the first thing you hear before the drops of notes patter you like coastal rain, and then it’s power-chord time and we’re off. This is where we stretch our limits of chordal density versus open space, spelling off with each other and working hard to make every riff mean something, and every overlying or underlying melody sing. “Ahh,” you say. “Here’s the breakdown! This must be the middle of the song!” We laugh good-naturedly at your presumptions; buckle up, my friends! Themes from earlier minutes return in louder, more insistent, more dolled-up manner, and we claw our way to the dynamic heights and then we plunge our way into the dynamic depths. And we bookend the closure with the solar wind again. This one was a workout to compose, it was a workout to record it, and yes, it is a killer to play, but it’s all smiles and sweat from us. As it should be for you.
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FUN FACTS:
1. Ferdy Belland is a journeyman carpenter with Red Seal certification. All his musician friends were either jerking coffee at Starbucks or tending bars or bussing tables, and he always liked drinking in pubs better than he liked working in them. He needed a good-paying day job so he could afford good musical equipment, and he needed a job where he could either get a leave of absence to tour…or, if he had to quit in order to tour, he could easily find another job afterward. Ferdy likes residential construction and likes being creative with his hands. He’s proud that he successfully finished a trade apprenticeship and got his ticket, sure – but there’s a much smaller risk of losing a finger playing bass than there is handling a Skilsaw. He prefers playing bass.
2. Colin Righton’s endearing nickname is the “Octopus Tornado,” and he cooks in the kitchen just as amazing as he attacks his drums. He is an excellent chef in the Anthony Bourdain / Jamie Oliver / Gordon Ramsay manner, so he’s awesome to be around when we get baked out of our skulls in the studio and get ravenous munchies.
3. Kevin Thiessen is into the Back to the Future trilogy the way Godzilla is into stomping Tokyo. And because he’s such a devoted fan of Genesis, he’s also a fan of Phil Collins’ solo pop material, but the rest of his bandmates try very, very hard not to hold that against him.
4. Daniel Airth’s amazing solo releases are well worth tracking down on YouTube. And if he ever forms a solo project that tours, Kevin and Colin, and Ferdy will all be his backing band.
5. Ferdy Belland has enjoyed a long parallel career as a music journalist, having been published in the Georgia Straight, the Nerve Magazine, Terminal City Weekly, and Black Press.
L-R – Colin Righton – Drums & Percussion, Daniel Airth – Lead & Rhythm Guitars, Kevin Thiessen – Lead & Rhythm Guitars, Keyboards, Ferdy Belland – Electric & Fretless Bass
Photo by Julian Bueckert Photo
PHAETON was formed in Kimberley, BC in March 2017 by Kevin Thiessen (lead & rhythm guitar), Daniel Airth (lead & rhythm guitar), Colin Righton (drums & percussion), and Ferdy Belland (electric & fretless bass). Combining technically ferocious compositions of modern metal with the ambitious song-arrangement mindset of classic prog-rock, PHAETON (named for the theoretical proto-planet which collided with Ancient Earth during the Primordial Era) stands alone in the wilderness of British Columbia with their unique approach to instrumental prog-metal.
Live Band Line Up:
Kevin Thiessen – Lead & Rhythm Guitars, Keyboards
Daniel Airth – Lead & Rhythm Guitars
Ferdy Belland – Electric & Fretless Bass
Colin Righton – Drums & Percussion
Discography
2018 – Self Titled – LP
2023 – Between Two Worlds – LP
List of bands we’ve shared the stage with:
FALSE FLAG, SOLBORN, ATAVISTIA, SYRYN, ELK HUNT, LEATHER APRON REVIVAL, CROOKED LINE, ZERO PEOPLE
Tours and Festivals:
2018 – July Fest – Kimberley, B.C.
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