Album Review: Phobetor - When Life Falls Silent
Reviewed by Paul Hutchings
Phobetor was, in Ovid’s Metamorphoses, one of the thousand sons of Somnus (Sleep) and appeared in the form of beast or bird or the long serpent. The unsettling artwork that adorns the cover of ‘When Life Falls Silent’ provides confirmation that the debut long player from Phobetor is unlikely to be an easy or comfortable listen. 40 minutes later and you emerge, blinking into the light, confused, scared, and slightly bruised.
The solitary violin that introducing ‘Merging Infinity’ wails in anguish before the London trio unleash the first taste of their extreme metal. Far from merely being a bludgeoning hammer to the face, Phobetor’s sound blends far more that walls of tremolo riffing and blast beats, although there is plenty of that contained within this release. Opener ‘Merging infinity’ is a challenge to label. Gruff vocals overlaid with harrowing screams, thunderous drums which share batteries of blast beats at selected moments and some filthy distortion all combine. It’s some opening and one that demands repeated listening.
Phobetor’s intensity mirrors the despair and anguish of life, and they take it full on with ‘A Toxic Lie’. Lurching riffs, explosive patterns, and Debora Conserva’s blood curing screams dominate. There isn’t a moment of normality on this release. It’s all sharp angles and alternative dimensions, one minute full of groove before transmission is hauled to an alternative dimension with some technical industrial edges. ‘Whispers of Dissonance’ echoes the earlier Gojira style, the staccato effect combining with punishing segments; the brief interlude of melody quickly dispelled in a maelstrom of chaos. The pounding, crushing guitar work of Mitch Revy cascades like a blackened waterfall, whilst the hammer edged drumming of Marc Dyos (also of Pythia) impresses.
The band subject matter is consistently dark throughout. But sometimes in life, reality needs to be broached and standing back to consider the desperate struggle of human life is captured effortlessly in this album. The haunting ‘Psychopathy’ captures this with its irregular patterns and time changes, the screams of defiance delivered in an understated yet still crushingly intense five minutes. ‘Harmony of Solitude’ mutates between explosive passages and ethereal sections, soaring high clean vocals adding brief shafts of light. Allowing oneself to move away from the reliance on labelling allows the listener to experience this album’s sheer boiling cauldron of extremity in the rawest form. It requires concentration and isn’t an album to listen to whilst relaxing in the bath. The shoulders will tense, the sinews will tighten as you progress through this uncomfortable yet captivating release.
The album benefits from the mixing and mastering wizardry of Krysthla guitarist Neil Hudson and packaged with Hans Trasid’s artwork, it provides a refreshing alternative to much of the repetition out there now. As the press release says, “Dare to look beyond the garish comforts that blind you and howl into the void with Phobetor.”
