Phobocosm - Bringer Of Drought




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

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