Review of Phobocosm - Deprived

Despite an impressive lineage from some of Canada’s best technical death metal bands like Atheretic, Neuraxis and Vengeful, the debut from Phobocosm plays more like Dark Descent’s typical, cavernous, devastatingly heavy doom/death sounds of  Binah, Lvcifyre , Lie In Ruins and notably Corpsessed and it rules. But was there really any doubt?

With a crushing Colin Marston mix, Deprived lumbers and rumbles with menacing, impressive heft mixing huge doomy lopes and injections of Incantation-y styled blasting walls of sound. The vocals are those super deep, subterranean growls that shake your very being when mixed with the patient but devastating riffs.

While the first two shorter tracks, intro “Sleep Deprivation” and the churning “Solipsist” open the album, it’s “Knives in the Senate House” where the album heralds its true arrival with a throttling opening and 6 minutes of massive, murky mayhem with a commanding regal presence. The next track “Solar Storm” has a dominating march about 3:45 in that’s just monstrous while sixth track “Drowned” delivers 6 minutes of intimidating, mid paced thunderous riffs and tidal blasts. The band perfectly balances Incantation like blasts and brooding, loping doomy segments like masterfully monolithic 11 minute closer “Forever in Doubt”. But there’s all out speed as well, as heard on the “Awaken Unconscious” , the album’s most direct track.

This one kinda came out of nowhere to really impress me, and is every bit as good as Corpsessed’s Abysmal Thresholds, and continues Dark Descent’s dominating run in the genre, but like I said in the opening  paragraph considering the label’s past and the band members involved, was there really any doubt?