This is bludgeoning
music to say the least. PHOBOS quite possibly crush the majority of
their contemporaries, leaving their few equals to observe the unholy
monstrosity that comprises the sum of Tectonics' parts. In fact, while
PHOBOS is a black metal band, I can only draw comparisons to early
Scorn, Godflesh, and Skinny Puppy. This one man show obliterates past
solo efforts like Judas Iscariot and ilk, making such mundane efforts
about equal to dropping a pebble on a steel-toed boot. PHOBOS' album
Tectonics picks up a mountain and drops it on you, then shovels you
from the ground and pulverizes you with a slowly hammering sledge
just for good measure. I read another reviewer comparing the album
to the rise and fall of Rome, which is a well warranted metaphor indeed.
The only other person in black metal today capable of matching wits
with the brains behind PHOBOS would be Blut Aus Nord, though only
for his album The Work Which Transforms God and follow-up EP Thematic
Emanation of Archetypal Multiplicity. I abhor comparing the two, but
the similarities are definitely there to a small degree. Being the
exact opposite of fast, this dirge of an album presents the listener
with an absolutely bitter epicedium, aurally devastating and sonically
dissonant. The drum programming is nothing short of cataclysmic, blending
with the huge fuzz of the guitar and bass perfectly. PHOBOS utilizes
outside samples, as well as repressive foreign textures no doubt the
result of smashing at the keyboard. This album contains no choruses,
and no logical progression (which is not to say it lacks it, either)
in any traditional sense. In this reviewer's mind, Tectonics is the
product of a nihilist's meandering scourge... a musical beat-down
by a truly disillusioned cynic. It's not extremely often that I discover
an up-and-coming act like this and become fully awed by their presentation.
In fact, this album is one of only three (the other two being Blut
Aus Nord's Work Which Transforms God and Deathspell Omega's Si Monvmentvm
Reqvires Circvmspice) such black metal albums I have discovered in
the last two years to really cause this old dog's jaw to drop. Being
as old as I am, I've seen unremarkable bands come and go and bid them
good riddance, but PHOBOS is one act I hope to see continually develop
his misanthropic brand of droning discord well into the bleak future.
- Aeric
/ aug. 2005 (9/10)
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