Review: Phalgeron – Cosmic Cataclysms
Review: Phalgeron – Cosmic Cataclysms
Jun 24
Phalgeron – Cosmic Cataclysms
Bleak imagery of shadows and despondent melancholy are the signature characteristics attributed to black metal music, a genre that wallows in the sorrowful hollowness of human isolation and desperation. It is these themes of the dismal and depraved that suit the sound so naturally to the Pacific Northwest of America, with its perpetually dreary climate, sparse population, and near endless reaches of cold mist filled forests. The environment, nearly identical to the birthplace of the then-underground movement in Scandinavia, is bound to foster a similar spawning ground for purveyors of doom, gloom, and spiritual dejection by its very nature. And indeed it has, with cities like Seattle, Portland, and Olympia cultivating tight-knit communities of underground black metal acts since the mid-nineties, one of which being the somewhat recent transplant from Los Angeles, Phalgeron. After slaying many a stage in support for a respectable montage of both national and internationally touring acts, the epic black metal trio has released their debut album, Cosmic Cataclysms, an effort which craftily fuses a flair for fantasy with a blackened assault of pummeling thrash metal.
From the opening notes of “Feeding the Phlegethon” you get an immediate impression of the band’s sensibilities, as a rather epic sounding melodic guitar line heralds the warsong to come to good effect. When the attack is unleashed, the listener is treated to a barrage of frantic riffing, pummeling drums, and vocals that morph easily between rasping graveyard verses and deep chorus growls. This is largely the sonic pallette utilized for the album as a whole with slight variations and flavorings here and there. Phalgeron, at their heart are a blackened death metal band with taste for melodic fantasy-battle elements in the vein of bands like Bal-Sagoth, but with a more traditional style of delivery that eschews any reliance on symphonic accents and instead opts for a straightforward brutal thrash metal onslaught.
While brutality and fiery blasts of aggression is the primary name of the game on Cosmic Cataclysms, the band is mindful never to exclude melody, as every song features wandering lead guitar lines that give them their discernible identities. These melodies generally retain an air of ominous majesty and epic battle calling that give the album a flavor that, if devoid of, would make for an otherwise generic modern blackened death metal release. Songs like “Creatures of the North” stick in the listeners head, with a lead motif that sounds like a demented Tchaikovsky conjuring not sugar plum fairies but blood gorging goblins. The group is also clearly not shy of the tongue-in-cheek antics notable in many related fantasy metal bands, occasionally interjecting near-comical voice overs to complement the lyrical content (think Ziltoid the Omniscient as a black metal album).
As a largely self produced effort, Phalgeron has done a rather impressive job for their first release. The audio production leaves nothing in the way of an amatuer impression, the effort sounds solid enough to stand beside any larger budget metal release out there and the three musicians each deliver solid performances all round. The group as a whole is certainly comfortable in their own element, although that comfort may be the one detriment to the album, slight as it may be as a detraction. The band knows their sound and sticks to it, and while the formula definitely works for each song on an individual basis, taking the entire affair into consideration as a single work reveals a certain monotony due to the lack of any great deal of exploration. That said, while the songs all exhibit characteristics universal to each other, they generally carry themselves and it takes multiple spins of the record before any real weariness sets in.
Cosmic Cataclysms makes for a great debut album by a band that has their own unique brand of epic black metal down to a science. While there is a tangible reluctance to explore beyond that brand, it can certainly be argued that a debut record’s first responsibility is to introduce listeners to a band’s primary modus operandi, which is exactly what Phalgeron has done, and in good form too. The group’s initial release sets them up for a strong future, one which will certainly see the trio slaying many a metalhead’s ear in epic fashion.
7/10
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