Chuck Schuldiner Project

Friday, August 29, 2014

Phobiatic-Fragments of Flagrancy


Phobiatic are the kind of hard hitting techdeath band that nerds like me love. These guys deliver punishing licks and crushing riffs that stop just short of going too far and alienating the listener. In fact, with their new record Fragments of Flagrancy, Phobiatic do a great job of crafting tracks that have dynamic interest and keep things going, from start to finish. Fragments of Flagrancy is the sort of record that a techdeath band can only put out after years of hard work. Now the hyper speed stomp and stunning atmospherics of Phobiatic are out of the bag, ready to crush our skulls.

Their is a certain glory in the colossal riffs on these tracks. Toss in a couple tight sweep patterns (Pay special attention to the minor sweeping on A Genius of Manipulation) and you start to get a sense for where this band is coming from. They follow the rules to some degree, but their crushing grooves are not the kind of thing that you can just listen too while falling asleep. That being said, there are not only super technical moments here, in fact, part of what I value about Phobiatic is their ability to scale it back and deliver slower more atmospheric passages which give the listener a bit of a break before the madness picks back up. In other words Fragments of Flagrancy is masterfully crafted, keeping it engaging throughout.

In closing, Phobiatic are only going to get better with time, their sound is vicious and incredibly complex. They generate oodles of harmonic interest and keep things crunching for the entirety of the record. Phobiatic seem to have the world at their feet as the churn out fascinating and squirrely riffs that are equally reminiscent of Morbid Angel as they are of Origin. Come forth and kneel before the dark altar, Fragments of Flagrancy is a death metal record for the modern age, technical enough to impress but smart enough to keep you coming back time after time.

Find them on Facebook!
https://www.facebook.com/phobiaticmetal

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