ALBUM REVIEW: Phobos – Dictated

Ever since changing their name from STONE SQUAD back in 2007, Holland’s DICTATED have carved out an impressive and respectable career for themselves, releasing three full lengths thus far. The bands incredibly heavy and brutal brand of death metal has given them a reputation as one of the heavier acts to come out of the Netherlands, with their sound being in equal parts punishingly aggressive and extremely catchy and accessible. Their latest record, Phobos, is arguably their best to date, with a far more focused and eclectic sound than on their first two full lengths.

Hypso dives headlong into a chaotic and ferocious motif, characterised by intricate drumming, monstrous guitar hooks and feral vocals, which jump between sludgy gutturals and hellish howls with ease. It’s a very short, but effective, piece of music, that goes straight for the jugular and foreshadows the visceral intensity that is to come. Thalasso is a dark and brooding track, with sharp guitars and monolithic drumming, which gives this an epic, huge sound that it’s hard not to get drawn in by. It quickly leaps into a far more cacophonous and atonal passage, marked by frenetic riffs and energetic, percussive drums. It’s another forceful and powerful offering that only adds to the fierce tone of the record.

Lysso, with its slick, melody tinged guitars and feral rhythmic assault, proves to be a slight change from the established formula, with a more accessible and catchy sound than the more brutal approach of the first two songs, without sacrificing the intensity of the music. It’s an acerbic and powerful track that adds a little more depth to the albums sound, and proves to be an early album highlight.

Taphe sees the band make use of soundbites and a larger sound musically to create a great, atmospheric affair with huge chords, bombastic drum passages and grating vocals all making for a vast, monolithic song with song great, rabid hooks thrown in to give the song a darker feel in amongst its more epic moments. Chira, with its shrill vocals, punishing percussion and thick, groove-laden guitars, is another robust and weighty piece of music which, much like the last two songs on the record, is definitely expanding on the scope of the sound on this record, with much more confident guitar lines and a sharper, more ferocious motifs overall giving this song a thoroughly savage and primal edge that makes it instantly memorable. In its final moments, it brings in some great, almost folky elements to the sound, which only serves to further cement it’s place in the listeners memory.

Apeiro once again makes excellent use of melody to add to this songs charm, with the opening riff having a bleak and melancholic sound to it, with the music touching on a more traditional heavy metal sound at points, without ever shedding its death metal skin completely. Jumping between the slow and morose moments and far more abrasive ones with ease, it also proves to be one of the more eclectic songs on the album, showing that DICTATED are more than capable of blending different styles together in order to make an engrossing and fantastic track.

Eisoptro is a solid chunk of caustic and meaty brutal death metal, with vicious, ravenous guitars and drumming combining to make for a dizzying wall of noise, interspersed with brilliant gutturals and frenetic, yet impressive, lead guitars. It’s a speed driven, aggressive offering from start to finish, and in spite of being one of the more straight forward tracks on the album, it still manages to pack a punch and leave its mark on the album at large. Glosso, with its sonorous, military drum beat and minimalist guitars proves to be a short, yet effective, instrumental piece that acts as a brief pallet cleanser. It gradually gains momentum, morphing into a vast sounding song with more intricate drumming and guitar work, although it remains fairly repetitive. It’s a great way to break the album up, and sets the listener up for the final three songs incredibly well.

Trypo has a far more hypnotic sound, especially with the way the guitars are layered to create a more fluid sound. Once this sound has drawn the listener in, it quickly launches into a razor sharp and monstrous death metal juggernaut, which is peppered liberally with the sort of trance-inducing guitar parts that opened this song, making for another excellent use of two contrasting styles to build a catchy, interesting piece of music.

Athaza Gora is yet another monolithic and bombastic offering with some jagged, jarring riffs and particularly acerbic vocals that do a great job of making this song one of the more visceral and venom soaked songs on the whole album. It’s got a massive sound, which helps to give the music an almost climactic tone, something that helps to elevate it significantly, setting the listener up for the final song, Atychi, extremely well. This final track brings the album to a close on a crushing and gargantuan slab of death metal with some solid, impressive guitar hooks, precise and focused drumming and dense, horrendous vocals, all of which makes sure that this fleeting track brings the album to a close in a big way, with the last song leaving as much impact as the first one.

If you are familiar with DICTATED and their work, then it will certainly be a surprise. Although the record still maintains much of the brutal death metal sound that defined their earlier work, it’s clear that the DICTATED are slowly but surely stepping away from that style to some extent, with far more melody driven guitars and more varied vocals, as well as the use of more atmospheric elements, making for a much more diverse and mature sound, something which sets this album, and the band that wrote and recorded it, head and shoulders above many of their contemporaries. This is a band that are incredibly underrated, and with any luck, this album will cement their status as one of the better, and heavier, death metal acts in the scene today.

Rating: 9/10

Phobos is set for release on October 25th via self-release.

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