PHOBOCOSM - Deprived

November 18, 2014, 9 years ago

(Dark Descent Records)

Greg Pratt

Rating: 8.0

review black death phobocosm

PHOBOCOSM - Deprived

Montreal's Phobocosm do it right here on their debut, fitting in nicely on the Dark Descent roster, itself a label that is worthy of much attention as the years roll on. If you are familiar with what Dark Descent deals in, it should come as no surprise that this is doomy, sludgey, atmospheric death metal... but not atmospheric as in "here's a keyboard player," atmospheric as in "Immolation rule." Which they do, and Phobocosm ain't all that bad either, the bass-heavy tunes here swirling and creating a vision that isn't so much down in the depths as it is floating through outer space. But not frantic like Wormed or weak like most bands who float through outer space: instead, this is the sound of slowly getting sucked into a black hole (see "Solipsist"), the sludge making way to grind, the sound arriving at a midpoint between cranky and doom-infected blackcrust and a more sturdy east coast USDM, one that loves the -ion suffix but stops after Immo- and Incantat-, leaving the big grooves of Suffocat- far behind. I can't stress just how incredibly Dark Descent this is, and again, if you've been paying attention over the past three years or so, the label has been building itself up to be one of extreme metal's finest. Phobocosm are definitely a suitable fit, the band the latest in Montreal's fine legacy of extreme metal, here crafting an album that is peerless above the 49th in 2014, this little band that could totally settling in as the next great Canuck extreme metal hope.



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