Let’s talk about The Journey, the latest album from Transcending Into the Unknown. They’re a band that sounds like they crawled out of a haunted roadhouse, had their guitars tuned under a blood-red moon and then decided to absolutely shred.
This thing is six tracks of pure, cinematic rock ‘n’ roll doom swagger, the kind of music that makes you want to ride a motorcycle through the apocalypse while wearing sunglasses at night. If I had to give an idea of what this album sounds like, I’d say it’s if Glenn Danzig ever took a detour through the dust-choked highways of the American Midwest, backed by a lead guitarist with the soul of Carlos Santana.
You might expect a complete disaster. Off the top of your head, you might have pictured musical chaos, egos clashing, and maybe even an exorcism. What you instead get on The Journey is a six-track masterpiece that somehow balances all of these wildly different elements into something that absolutely should not work. And yet, it totally does. The Journey is an album that knows exactly what it wants to be: a dark, dusty, supernatural road trip through the best parts of rock history. If you like your music with a little menace, a lot of soul, and guitar solos that could melt faces off statues, this is absolutely worth your time.
But the real magic here is how intentional it all feels. This isn’t just a bunch of musicians showing off how many genres they can play. With every shift in style, every contrast in tone, every wild leap between influences feels like it belongs. The album never loses sight of itself, no matter how many times it changes shape. Whether it’s unleashing raw, throat-shredding screams or layering in harmonies so ethereal they might actually be holy, The Journey never stops surprising you.
From the moment this album kicks off with the song Winternight, one thing is made clear: The Journey has zero interest in playing by the rules. It’s like someone took every cool thing that’s ever happened in rock and metal, smashed them all together, and somehow ended up with a cohesive record instead of an unlistenable mess. And that’s just the beginning.
Giants would probably be my favorite track of the whole project as it sounds like an alternate version of Flight of The Valkyries performed by a leather-clad band blasting guitar solos in the first carriage of a train running at full speed and I do love every moment of it. It’s relentless. It’s cinematic. It dares you not to feel pumped listening to it and you will fail that challenge. Another highlight comes in the form of the band’s 2025 version of Chronos, wherein Transcending Into the Unknown leans into a hypnotic, almost trance-like groove. It’s the kind of track that makes you forget where you are for a second. You blink, and suddenly you’re standing on a windswept mountain peak with thunder crashing around you.
At its core, this album is pure musical chaos, but executed with such precision that it becomes something greater than the sum of its parts. It’s a statement. A challenge. A giant neon sign from Transcending Into the Unknown that says, “We don’t care about genres, we care about making something awesome.” And honestly? Mission accomplished.
With The Journey, Transcending Into the Unknown have crafted a tight, electrifying experience. This is a project that’s haunting yet soulful, unrelenting yet poetic. If you crave the raw power of gothic-tinged rock with the virtuosic touch of a guitar god, this album isn’t just worth a listen, it’ll fit your music taste like a missing puzzle piece.
Follow Transcending Into the Unknown
About the Author
A tenured media critic known working as a ghost writer, freelance critic for publications in the US and former lead writer of Atop The Treehouse. Reviews music, film and TV shows for media aggregators.
