Album Review: Phrenelith - Ashen Womb
Reviewed by Sam Jones
When I saw Phrenelith announce they’d have a new album out for early 2025 I was ecstatic, the band are amongst my favourite to have presented themselves within the Danish extreme metal community and upon a teaser of their new album, I knew I was in for a ride. Formed in 2013 out of the city of Copenhagen, the band’s early days were dotted by numerous Demos, a Compilation, a Split with Spectral Voice and an EP, in 2017, titled Chimaerian Offspring. Then, before that year was out, Phrenelith finally unveiled their first full length work, Desolate Endscacpe, a record hailed by many as an outright masterpiece and rocketed the name of Phrenelith to the highest ranks of emerging death metal near overnight. Multiple Demos and a 2018 EP followed suit but we’d have to wait until 2021 for their next album: Chimaera. Since that time the band have been involved with another Split alongside Deiquisitor, Undergang and Taphos, then a Promo in 2024. Now releasing their first record alongside Dark Descent Records, Ashen Womb will be the band’s third full length release, however it’ll be notable for being drummer Andreas Norgdreen’s first album credit with the band whose prowess behind the kit has proven considerable throughout his time with Chaotian and Sequestrum. Poised for a February 7th release date I was hyped for this record and so dove in with glee towards what was sure to be a hellfire performance.
The production that’s been given to this record is nigh on ethereal. Though the band’s riffs come at us with all the fury of a clenched fist, the backdrop behind the band feels hollow, as if left deliberately blank. This is far from a detriment however since every turn of the riff or vocal intonation, instead of slamming straight into a wall, now resonates beautifully behind them. It is as if the band have included the effect of tolling bells into their songwriting without it being a prominent element instrumentally speaking. We’ve seen this applied before back on Desolate Endscape whereby it lends their soundscape a thoroughly morose, apocryphal essence and immerses us all the more because we’re recognising their sound isn’t merely ending when the riff strikes us. It’s an effective way of giving their soundscape a grander presence than simply doubling down on the tone or applying some cavernous fuzz to the mix. This is apparent with all forces of the band as cymbal and drum strikes, even the bass drums, have this impact, reminiscent to a viscous substance striking the wall though spreading out to maximise the energy thrown into it, then rebounding, reforming, returning to us for the next bout.
The actual performance itself, with support from the production applied, doesn’t just punch us in the abdomen but feels to strike cleanly through us. Imagine placing oneself within a particular accelerator and someone unknowingly activates it; there’s no survival, your cellular structure is torn apart, your atoms reduced to infinitesimal scope. That’s the feeling one gets when Ashen Womb gets underway; we’ve covered records that are bludgeoning or possess an enveloping quality, but this record, where we capable of tracking the direction their riffs and songwriting move in, would be viewed as cutting right through us. The guitar somehow sports a simultaneously crunching and piercing attack where you can feel the shape of their sound clearly formed and moving in your direction. But then the riff can change or move in another direction and, suddenly, their soundscape applies an altogether blackened quality which employs that aforementioned piercing, slashing effect. Given the tempo of the band, they’re not seeking to slow things down at all so these juxtaposing riff attacks can follow in sequence pending on the songwriting’s demands. That’s not easy to do since you need the right technical elements in place to allow that particular approach to this soundscape a viable option. I personally don’t know how they could have accomplished this, but the results really do speak for themselves.
But I’m awed by how clean this record seemingly sounds. Phrenelith are a pillar of the Danish extreme metal community and thus when they announce a new album, you think you know how it’ll sound; that’s not the case regarding Ashen Womb. The band have managed to establish Ashen Womb as a record that somehow destroys you with all the finesse of refined glass-making. There’s a beauty and professionalism with this record you don’t see often; the band know what you want, and we know what they know we want, but Phrenelith have still gone out of their way to smelt and hammer this record into what it is without feeling the need or pressure to make it overly dissonant on our senses. It’s incredibly audible in the respect everything is on display for you; there are no drowned or challenged instrumental elements occurring yet neither has it been rendered so cleanly a polish that it’s lacking notable bite to its attack. The band come at us with this seething, volcanic malice and still Ashen Womb is far from overwhelming; there will come a time throughout this record where you’ll think “I can hear and comprehend everything” and that isn’t a common realisation, knowing you are receiving the full breadth of Phrenelith’s talents all because they’ve taken their foot off the pedal by a few degrees. In doing so, it’s enabled the band to bring those riffs and the songwriting to their fullest potential because they understand that is what will drive people back to this record. Killing your audience is one thing, we go in expecting that form of fury, but bands want people to come back, and being a little kinder to the senses is not disadvantageous to them.
Owing to the record’s production there is very little differentiation between the instrumentation; it all blends together seamlessly, however it has not been done to the point whereby the band’s performance becomes some nonsensical smelting pot where you can’t discern the basslines from the drums or the vocals from the riffs. Everything is exceedingly well ordered and structured with each vocal and instrumental section having their own assigned place within the mix; it’s still a veritable detonation yet it’s the kind that’s been slowed down for us. Though the band are playing with great tempo throughout the record, only slowing for particular, track-purposed occasions, there’s never any wonder as to what we’re currently experiencing, and on top of that you have flurries of blast beats alongside guttural vocals. Whilst this is taking place the mix is smooth as silk with barely a bump in the road as you’re listening, all the while Phrenelith champion this cerebral, howling onslaught but the kind that caresses and holds you close for some heinous injury. Even the smallest drum strikes are heard and the necessity they possess within the songwriting is evident to us. There are times when the vocals do just cease entirely and we’re left alone with the riffs taking charge but they’re far from pummelling, assuming a wondrously funereal tone that leaves them far above mere brutality into something deeply odious. It is a beautifully composed piece of death metal.
In conclusion, Ashen Womb runs for a little under forty minutes which isn’t all that long. But in that time the band pull out all the stops with what they’ve learnt across the years to craft easily their best singular work since Desolate Endscape; now I enjoyed Chimaera back in 2021 but Ashen Womb is absolute proof as to why Phrenelith shot to stardom so quickly amongst their contemporaries. It’s more than some sheer death metal performance; Ashen Womb has been meticulously put together to resemble something otherworldly but set within the confines of our tangible and real world. I think this is a record that many will return to numerous times over not simply because it’s great but, within there is something lurking within its depths that keeps pulling us back for another listen. I believe the silky mix is half that reason since it gives the band an immaculately flattened and taut foundation upon which their performance may be conveyed. You won’t miss anything on your first listen but that’s not going to stop you from a fourth or fifth return to Ashen Womb. It’s a record that hides nothing from you yet always feels like it’s got at least one secret tucked away, waiting to be found. Ashen Womb is easily the band’s greatest work in some time, delivering cutthroat and stabbing riffs but bound up in a soundscape so comprehensible yet complex, it truly is a Gordian Knot for extreme metal for 2025.
