International brutal tech blackened/deathcore/death metal band Phasma, returns with their 3^rd album – Purgatory. With six songs, the band goes the simple route. They name each tune with a Roman numeral.

The first song starts with some growls, beatdown deathcore, then right into a terrific blast beat. The above explanation of the various genres the band is influenced by is pretty spot on, especially in the gruff vocal delivery and various deathcore grooves. After the blast, the song settles into a monstrous slam with some definite Phil Bozeman (Whitechapel) inspired vocals. The blast, erupting after the lengthy groove, has some pinch harmonics and is just ferocious. The technical prowess is there in the guitar riffing, then pinch harmonics, which continue with a nice guitar solo, once the song slows down, and the feedback takes us to the end of the song. This is an intense album opener.

The third song begins with a monolithically heavy beatdown, which calls to mind the band Distant. Dense, heavy, and abruptly the song shifts into a barely audible atmosphere. I swear I thought my Bluetooth disconnected, but nope. The song erupts with a monster blast that then hits a groove with pinch harmonics and terrific gutturals. As I usually do with certain reviews, I am giving you a heads up, out of courtesy. When that atmospheric soft spot hits, do not crank up the volume on whatever device you are listening to. Because you will go deaf, once that blast comes out of nowhere. I was like, you rat bastids, you took me off guard. There are some ethereal guitar solos at the end of the song with some excellent drum rolls and fills. This song is a scorcher.

Track 4 starts with this pained groove. Heavy and thumping, before the blast beat comes in. The sound, during the blast, is a bit noisy. To me, it sounds like he’s riding the Hi-hat…it’s a bit chaotic. Unsure what is going on with this speedy part, the mix is not my favorite. The song gets into a crucial groove with polyrhythms. It’s a very busy groove section. It’s well done; however, I am curious to see how the crowd would get into this moment in a live setting.

The last song has tremendous blasting, and then I remember why the band is a bit off-kilter in their blasting approach with the rhythms. They follow a non-linear style, which has Ulcerate all over it. Nowhere near as good as Ulcerate, but nonetheless it is pretty cool. That weird mix with the blasting does return. It’s just not pleasant to these young ears.

Purgatory is a fine album from Phasma. Incorporating all sorts of brutal genres into their sound. It’s a lot. Again, less is more at times. Sometimes you will find bands throwing in all sorts of genre influences in order to appeal to a larger audience. I get that approach. At times, this can backfire because it can come across as very busy. Phasma is a good band, and this is a good effort. I would pull back on so many of the crossover genres, because I think it would hit harder. In the words of Larry David…this is pretty, pretty, pretty, good.

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