Just when I think the OSDM craze is dead, a band like Phobophilic and their legion of vintage 90s longsleeve clad fans will come along to remind me otherwise. Hailing from the town that William H. Macy made famous (Fargo, North Dakota), Phobophilic has gained quite the following in their brief 5 year existence. I can’t remember exactly when I first became aware of this band, but it was definitely somewhere in between their demo and EP stage, so…2019? 2020? Somewhere in that timeframe. Yet in the same breath, I never got around to checking said demos or EPs out. I was merely “aware” of their existence, if that makes any sense.
This lack of reference points made my first listen of Phobophilic’s debut album, Enveloping Absurdity, all the more exciting. It isn’t often I go into an album review completely cold. I usually have some knowledge of the band in review’s back catalog, history, etc. In the case of Phobophilic, all I knew was that they played death metal. And considering the term “death metal” encompasses everything from the gory, bloodthirsty insanity of Autopsy to the hellish, infernal rage of Morbid Angel, the slamming brutality of Suffocation to the forward-thinking technicality of Atheist, I had no idea where Phobophilic would lie.
If there’s any one classic death metal band I would compare Phobophilic to, it’s Incantation, if only for the extremely dark, cavernous production throughout. That said, they aren’t nearly as much of an “Incantation clone” as others in their field. The band throws in far too many meandering, pseudo-prog hooks and riffs, characteristic of Demilich and Timeghoul, to be pigeonholed one way or another. This unique combination of dismal atmosphere, subtle technicality, thrashing aggression, and knuckle-dragging ignorance makes Enveloping Absurdity one of the most invigorating death metal releases of the year.
The bleak, mesmeric trance of “Enantiodromia” opens the affair up, establishing the mood with its peculiar hooks, brutal riffage, and doomy breakdown. Things only grow more welcomingly confusing on cuts like “Those Which Stare Back”, “Nauseating Despair”, and “Cathedrals of Blood (Twilight of the Idols)”. These songs are shining beacons of death metal that’s progressive without losing the plot in a façade of pretentiousness. Towards the second half of Enveloping Absurdity, the band scales these prog influences down in favor of showcasing the genre’s roots, as best evidenced by the Scream Bloody Gore era Death gone to hell romp that is “The Illusion of Self” and abysmal “Survive in Obscurity”. Rounding it all out is the lengthy, yet compelling epic title track: An unholy amalgamation of death, doom, and prog; each element fighting for your undivided attention.
Although the overall arrangement and structures of these songs aren’t anything groundbreaking within the realm of death metal, Phobophilic do a commendable job of creating something new out of something old. At no point throughout Enveloping Absurdity did things drag or grow stale, which speaks volumes. I’ve since developed a low tolerance for run of the mill early 90s worship. Props to Phobophilic for striving to be something greater in a world dominated by the same old, same old.
7 out of 10
Label: Prosthetic Records
Genre: Death Metal
For fans of: Incantation, Demilich, Immolation