Phobocosm – Foreordained (Review)

This is the third album from Canadian death metal act Phobocosm.

Foreordained contains 41 minutes of cavernous, doom-infused death metal. It’s a journey into the lightless places that are hard to reach, but if you can endure the extreme environments they offer, then there are many potential rewards to be had.

Phobocosm play their death metal ancient, ugly, and foul, yet also have an edge of dissonance that betrays more contemporary influences. This mix of modern and old-school works well for the band, making for songs that are bleak and menacing in very effective ways.

It wouldn’t be death metal without a dose of brutality too though, so Phobocosm rightly have this covered. Amidst the oceans of crushing doom atmosphere lie islands of death metal carnage and aggression. Of course, it’s not quite as separate as I’m making it sound, but essentially this is an album that works remarkably well no matter what it’s doing. Whether drowning the listener in slow dark waters, flattening with mid-paced heaviness, or fiercely assaulting them with lethal intensity, Foreordained is always a compelling proposition.

This is nightmarish, pitch-black stuff. It’s death metal by way of horrific harrowing doom and the sort of malevolent dissonance that almost sounds alive. The apocalypse is coming, and Phobocosm seem to be one of its heralds.

Foreordained is the type of record that grows on you with inexorable inevitability. It’s a relentless barrage of darkness and gloom, powered by misery and driven by a need to extinguish all light.

Highly recommended for connoisseurs of grim heaviness.