Phobocosm, hailing from Montréal, Quebec, have been slinging their brand of darkness since around 2008, but did not pop onto the scene with a release until their debut album, Deprived, in 2014.

All of their releases have been on Matt Calvert’s awesome Dark Descent Records. Gateway is the band’s fourth studio album, and we get seven songs in 35 minutes. Sometimes the dark cavernous sorta death metal Phobocosm plays, is best served with an album of this length.

“Deathless” starts things off with some guitars in the distance. The thunderous drums slowly build up, and this beginning has me thinking of some Finnish death metal bands such as Desolate Shrine. Dark and heavy, as well as dissonant. The instrumental portion of this opening goes on for over two minutes, until the 2.30 moment comes in. E.B.’s vocals are incredible and he’s always had a killer voice and for reference thing of Craig Pillard – Disma/Incantation. Super deep, throaty, yet enunciated brilliantly. This tune plods along in a doomy fashion, so damn heavy and it just pounds and pounds the listener into dust. R.M. and S.D. have some heavy AF guitar tones happening here, folks. A well-executed opening song.

J.S.G. showcases his faster drum skills on the next song – “Unbound”. It starts faster than it gets back into a mid-paced heavy groove, before the double pounding speed returns so you can headbang your head off those pathetic shoulders of yours. This song moves, and grooves, and the vocals are just fantastic. Truly evil, heavy, and some of the best death metal vocals on any 2025 release! It’s important to point out that the guitar riffs are actually discernible. They do not sound muddy, however they do bite much deeper, when the slower sections erupt or when the mid-paced moments are used. Much of what the band has going on here could be considered doom death metal to a degree, you can say.

Not everything is peaches and cream, though. There are 3 instrumentals woven within the release. They are cool, but that amounts to only 4 songs with vocals. I would have rather had maybe only one instrumental. 3 interlude instrumentals, on a 7 song album, is a bit much.

“Beyond the Threshold of Flesh” is over eight minutes and starts things off fast and the tempo shifts go from fast to then slower and back and forth. This is a pretty awesome beginning, which stays that way for the better part of the first two minutes. The song then slogs into this slow dense quicksand inspired doom. It takes hold of you and pulls you under; that is how densely heavy this moment is. The song then speeds up some more and all these moments are pretty much how the rest of the song is structured. Excellent song, and the vocals are terrific.

Gateway is a damn fine album from Phobocosm. My favorite from the band is still their second album, Bringer of Drought, from 2016. The band has remained consistent with their sound, although maybe a tad more doom death metal is on this latest album. While the band definitely has a penchant for playing a style from the late 80’s/early 90’s, make no mistake Phobocosm sounds fresh and brutal. Heavy and dark death metal – get this now!

[Visit the band's website]

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