Phosphorus are a German post-black metal band and this is their debut album.
I came across this randomly as a recommendation on a forum, and I’m glad I checked it out. Phosphorus play a hybrid style, bringing us 37 minutes of compelling material on Frail Grasp of Broken Hands.
As a rough starting point, think of a coherent mix of different aspects taken from bands like the following – Anaal Nathrakh, Ba’al, Civerous, Conjurer, Entropia, Kardashev, Yob. Phosphorus throw a lot ingredients into their tasty recipe, and they use them very well indeed.
You could argue that this is either post-black metal or blackened post-metal, and it sort of sits somewhere between the two. Regardless, rather than take the typical blackgaze route that manty bands tagged as post-black metal do, Phosphorus have instead looked wider, and incorporate elements of black and death metal, sludge, doom, and post-metal/rock into their absorbing style. To keep it simple, blackened post-metal sludge is what I’m going for. Or maybe sludgy post-black metal. Bah, who cares. Whatever it is, it’s an exemplar of multi-style extreme metal.
Enough nonsense, let me tell you how great this is.
Frail Grasp of Broken Hands features moments of dark beauty, but also harsh metallic destructive tendencies. Phosphorus range widely across these five songs, allowing them to benefit from melodic colour and expressive post-rock intimacy, while also going all in on furious aggression. It’s an album of Intricate delicacy and graceful atmospheric depth, but it’s also an album of brutal heaviness and serrated blackened venom. The vocals are as varied as the rest of the musical ingredients. Whether it’s deep growls, rough shouts, acerbic screams, or clean singing, the vocals cover a lot of bases, and are all performed remarkably well.
Within this, Phosphorus demonstrate an advanced grasp of songwriting. The music is well-structured, with effective dynamics, and a keen understanding of melody and emotion. Whether it’s blistering intensity, soaring harmonies, melancholic worldbuilding, fragile introspection, percussive nuance, or anything else, Phosphorus really impress. They know how to write an absorbing song, and blend hooks with feeling and atmosphere easily and naturally.
The entire package of Frail Grasp of Broken Hands is a potent one. It manages to be both extremely professional and passionately delivered. In many ways it’s hard to believe this is simply Phosphorus’ debut album, as this is the sort of record it usually takes bands a long time to build up to.
Well, I am extremely glad that I randomly happened upon this gem of a record. I really hope this doesn’t just disappear into obscurity, as this is the sort of breakout album you’d expect to find on one of the larger extreme metal labels.
Whatever the future holds for Phosphorus, Frail Grasp of Broken Hands is pure win from start to finish.
Essential listening.
Wonderbox Metal 