ALBUM REVIEW: Enveloping Absurdity – Phobophilic
North Dakota’s PHOBOPHILIC are a band that have been carving out a name for themselves within the US death metal scene since their formation in 2016. Establishing themselves at a time when the American death metal underground seems to be undergoing a creative renaissance, and with many of their contemporaries putting out stellar work in the same timeframe, the band have nonetheless managed to gain a sizeable following through their imposing, chaotic and oftentimes groove-driven sound, with their 2019 EP Undimensioned Identities and their split with Canadian stalwarts SEDIMENTUM helping to establish the Fargo-based quartet as a force to be reckoned with. Their long awaited debut album, Enveloping Absurdity, proves to be a good introduction to a wider audience, albeit with a sometimes formulaic approach.
Enantiodromia has a slow, cavernous sound and provides a powerful start to the record, with huge chords and percussive drumming gradually giving way to chunky, groove-laden hooks and thick gutturals. Shifting from massive rhythmic passages to faster, more chaotic ones, interspersed with jarring melodic flourishes, it’s a great piece of music that covers a lot of ground musically. Those Who Stare Back is energetic and feral, with impressive leads, frenetic drums, sludgy basslines and rumbling vocals which carve through the sharper and harsher moments of the music to provide a depth to proceedings, creating a juxtaposition that works really well.
Nauseating Despair returns to the measured, death-doom-esque qualities that were present in the opener, with well placed bursts of cacophony injecting a livelier edge to the mix without detracting from the gargantuan undercurrent that lies at this song’s core. The sort of slick leads that appeared towards the end of the previous track are also evident in the song’s second half, peppering this relatively ferocious affair with catchy passages. Cathedrals Of Blood (Twilight Of The Idols) still possesses a solid death metal sound, albeit with intricate drumming and tighter guitar work, and sees the vocals take on a slightly wider range than earlier tracks. The thunderous growls are punctuated with acidic snarls at points, resulting in a song that inserts lots of subtle elements into the music without sacrificing any of the intensity.
Individuation begins to show some promising musical shifts, notably the use of cleaner guitar tones and haunting ambience, which builds a palpable, dramatic atmosphere that immediately draws the listener in, acting as a great instrumental piece that leads into the album’s second half perfectly. The Illusion Of Self reverts to a standard death metal formula, but the guitars are approached with a focus on creating a more discordant sound than they did on the first half of the record. The weighty rhythms and dissonant freneticism are still there, but the leads on here are what ultimately helps to give life to this particular track.
Survive In Obscurity is full throttle, lean and aggressive death metal with a great, jarring side to it. It couples urgent riffs with visceral vocal deliveries and a noticeable punk flavour to the drums which again makes this song stand out for the best reasons and places the band’s own stamp onto the established death metal formula. Enveloping Absurdity, with its muscular groove and soaring leads, has an ethereal edge to it. There’s just the right amount of reverb on the guitars to cut through the darker, monstrous components that underpin the bulk of this song’s sound. Although it is an incredibly solid slab of death metal in its own right, and has a slightly hypnotic side to it that differentiates it from the average death metal track, it does feel like an anticlimactic conclusion to this record and lacks the sort of bombastic finality that closing tracks should possess.
Enveloping Absurdity is an incredibly solid and impressive debut record, with lots of lean musicianship that brilliantly captures the best of old school death metal without straying too far into the realms of imitation. There are points where it does feel as though the some of the tracks need a little more variety when it comes to songwriting, and tracks such as Individuation, Survive In Obscurity, Cathedrals Of Blood and Those Who Stare Back all boast some extremely imaginative ideas, but a few of these songs, particularly in the album’s first half, could have benefited from a wider range of styles being thrown into the mix. Nonetheless, it’s a great album that lays some great foundations for PHOBOPHILIC to build on in the future.
Rating: 7/10
Enveloping Absurdity is out now via Prosthetic Records.
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