PHOBIA - Grindcore
October 22, 2014, 10 years ago
Deep Six Records
Man, no one saw this coming. I mean, you see an EP by the most consistent band since forever, pure American grind crew Phobia, and it's called Grindcore, and you think, "yeah, it's going to be a quick bunch of grindcore tunes that sound like every other quick bunch of Phobia grindcore tunes." But, here you have opener "Subversion Till Dispersion," a THIRTEEN-MINUTE far-reaching blackthrash anthem, quickly followed up by "Breeding Despite," which touches on both prog AND power metal. Wart the hell, there's nary a squat or unforgiving crust punk in sight. Man, by the time "Path To Destruction," the EP's third song, hits you with its post-metal Appalachian folk acoustics, can't blame you for being confused. And the rest of the EP continues in this fashion: grooving near-nü, raging retro thrash (the downpicked Hetfield-isms of "Don't Hate The Pain, Hate The Game" must be heard to be believed), and pure old school Swedeath make this sound more like a compilation than one band. Does it reach too far? Sure, at times; I mean, it's not like we want to expect the exact same song every time from Phobia or anything, but let's keep things slightly steady, slightly straight. And, for better or for worse, the new addition of soaring melodic good cop vocals could give any number of modern metalcore bands a run for their money... Just kidding. It's Phobia, it's called Grindcore, it sounds 100% exactly how it should, and we'd have it no other way. Why are you even reading this?
