In the 21st century, quality death metal makes itself scarce in a genre that has become disappointingly stagnant since its peak in the mid-1990s. Any gems are shrouded by a haze of technical masturbation bands and equally soulless candied old-school imitators. The musicians no longer understand their art. Some challengers exist, such as Phobocosm, a recent addition to the death metal roster.
Phobocosm are a death metal band rising from Montreal that compose dark and dirge-like death metal in the vein of Incantation and perhaps Evoken, but with their own unique voice. They released a song entitled “Solipsist” from their upcoming full-length Deprived that burns with apocalyptic fervor.
The song begins with a chilling melody that picks up intensity and evolves into the musical representation of souls wandering across a vicious and ominous wasteland. This music exemplifies the spirit, and delivers crushing blows.
Phobocosm have the misfortune of inheriting a genre that peaked, attracted infiltrators and imitators, and now languishes in a mass of technically-competent but empty material. The Canadians try to rectify that with solid songwriting before they get to the technical parts, which makes Phobocosm a band to watch. Their debut album, Deprived, arrives via Dark Descent Records on September 30th.
Tags: death metal, phobocosm
good article . especially the first paragraph. death metal musicians have lost perspective on who we are (we are mostly rejects as Brett’s article pointed out earlier this year).
In D.M. in general – there is too much holier than thou ( I am willing to admit I have this problem too ..). Also a lot of worshipping of average bands . too much of a pack/herd mentality. There is way too much showing off on drums (excessive blasting) and lead guitar these days . This song kicks ass by the way that is posted here!!!
This sucks. They should think about composition before making songs. Introduction -> build up/marginal development -> back to introduction -> characterless atonal riff salad = immensely boring. This is texture more than music; it doesnt lead the listener anywhere beyond texture. Another example of how prosaic approaches lead to lackluster results.
Exactly. This music is empty and it reminds me more of a Portal/Ulcerate type of band than an Incantation one. Not good.
It’s hidden in the review:
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The Canadians try [1] to rectify that with solid songwriting before [2] they get to the technical parts, which makes Phobocosm a band to watch[3].
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1. Trying isn’t doing
2. It went to utter shit when they went to riff salad
3. ‘Watch’, not ‘hear’ — being nice by saying that they have potential
The whole song itself is bland, run of the mill modern death metal. The intro riff is generic as hell (and they reintroduce it after one other riff was played [it wasn’t good the first time — why bring it back so soon?!]), then the riff salad which followed was the death knell. It goes to complete shit. The vocals are stereotypical and overprocessed.
The only good thing about this band is that they appear to be proficient with their instruments. Perhaps they’ll realize how they can improve their music. For now, they’re just a dinky farce. No originality at all.
Bands like this are what makes metal stagnant.
Atonal, good word there, I used that in a post to describe a Kerry King guitar solo on a other site once, got a lot of shit for that.
Haha. Kerry King’s solos lack musicality. Atonal fits as a good description.
Atonality does not imply amusicality. It just means that the melody is nottrapped within a tonal framework. Modal jazz is borderline atonal, but it is not amusical. Stravinsky, Webern, and Varese wrote atonal music but it was very musical.
I understand that you didn’t directly draw a line from atonality to amusicality. I just thought it was worth pointing out that the two are not mutually inclusive aspects of any piece of music.
If Kerry King’s solos were isolated from the music then they’d be noticeably non musical. However, put them into Slayer songs and they become part of the music. Reeeeearrrrr waaaaah redee reeee Rah pewpewpewpewdedede dah dah waaaaaaaaaaaooooooooooarrrrrrrggghhhhhhhhh
These guys have a good sound and are tight though .
Tight like the rectum of a virginal squirrel