Album Review: Symphobia - Hideously Traumatic
Reviewed by Dan Phipps
New kids on the block in the name of Indonesian death metal Symphobia working alongside Comatose Music for the release of their debut full length release Hideously Traumatic. Now this peaks my interest for two reasons, Comatose Music has a long history of relentless brutal death metal release and Indonesia delivers some of the most devastating bands and releases you can find.
Wasting no time to get down to action Hideously Traumatic hits the spot right away. It's got an extremely tight production where I am hearing the bite of the guitar next to the explosive drums and putrid vocals. Everything is sitting at the right spot in the mix so you are not struggling to pick anything out so right at the start that is a big win. The Indonesian band creates a really solid listening experience. The tracks are sharp and rapid bolts of brutal death metal, not overly long in length with most clocking in at under three minutes in length but what they do with that time is absolutely top notch. It's quite tough to pick where Symphobia draw the bulk of their influence from.
With a lot of bands you can pick out a specific band to compare them to yet with this record I am hearing lots of areas where the band have worked to give this record its own identity. Vocally this record is ok but with it being all vocal patterns I do find that they do get a bit monotonous at points as the patterns don't really change much throughout the record.
Hideously Traumatic is a rapid collection of savage and brutal tracks full of slick powerful riffs which may not be flashy yet certainly deliver. It's a solid release from the punishing opening track one until track ten concludes with all its brutal glory.
