This
Montreal based quartet released their debut album, Deprived, in 2014. It was a great death metal album with thick and warm
production, swirling riffs and a drummer that holds strong and memorable rhythms.
They have the ability to create imageries via soundscapes and music. And they
know that. Bringer Of Drought steps
into dark and depressive ambience and doom aesthetics while playing swirling death
metal riffs and leads. The overall feeling and production is darker that its
predecessor and they have a broader and looser approach in composition. The
songs are more open, the circles are broader and the structures take longer to
complete.
Bringer Of
Drought expresses
a holistic and global catastrophe. It is about the feeling of being taken over
by the waves that the lead guitar is creating, the beats of the drums and the
narrator’s voice describing our impending end. What was predominant in their
debut is now the means to move further into their own path, by going beyond the
compositional boundaries of death metal and enclosing chaos and darkness
through ambience.
Engulfing Dust opens the album with a doom
oriented structure that moves slowly for the duration of the 8+ minutes. It
works as an introduction to the album and the beginning of our descent. With
slow drum patterns, a nice leading melody and the dominant voice, it sets the
ground for the next songs.
Tidal Scourge comes and the drummer shows
his skills. The circular patterns, other times slow and other times aggressive
and fast, are impressive. The contrast between the leads that move as though
they want to break away from the structure and the rhythmic drums that move in spiraling
motion, create the sense of anxiety and fear. It feels like a menacing wind
that can suffocate you and bury you under dust and rocks.
The
third song, Ordeal, is the shortest
and denser song of the album. Everything that is Bringer Of Drought is heard and felt in this song; the leads that can
madden you, the strong and rhythmic drumming, the clear wall of sound created
by the bass and the imposing narration over them.
Fallen closes the album on a high
note. It has two themes that replace each other. It builds slowly and then
bursts out through the leads and the fast drumming, moving back and forth, in a
pendulum motion, between chaos and calm.
This
album is, as they titled it, a bringer of drought and within it you can listen
and experience both the desperation that comes during the chaotic storm and the
drought that is left afterwards; a movement between ambient desolation and
hopeless war against powers that are beyond human reach.
Phobocosm’s second album is about 35 minutes
with four songs and it is constructed methodically, emphasizing the doom and
ambient aura, with leads that feel like a spiraling wind and drums that appear
as structures of stone or marble, depending on the pace. It builds a storm around
the core elements of death metal. A very good album and I feel that they have a
lot more to give. The best is yet to come from them.
Recommended
Track: Fallen
Released:
13/5/2016
