Micro Reviews
Ocean is more ancient than the mountains, and freighted with the memories and the dreams of Time. Phobophilic have turned to the sea and brought to life horror unknown. With their sound hearkening back to the elder statesmen of death metal, they've carved out a slimy, eldritch style that sounds as all-encompassing as the dread the subject matter elicits. Unrelenting and meticulous, Undimensioned Identities pummels the listener with serpentine riffs that march as tall as the Great Old Ones, making said listener into minuscule collateral damage in the wake of its terror.
Straight up, this feels like skate thrash for Satan. It's raw, it's tough, it's fun as hell. While the snare comes toppling over the listeners head, one can't help but bob along and feel the energy from the raw recording. Spell Caster from Black Knife will force you to grow a leather jacket over whatever you're currently wearing. You will bow at the altar of their predecessors like Venom and even Motor Head. This is indeed the Devi's Rock n Roll and I hope there's a lot more where this came from.
I don't typically like to write about bands everyone knows because more often than not, those bands get so much publicity and column inches, that my opinion generally falls like a drop in an ocean. It Comes in Waves from The Acacia Strain, however, is an exception. Generally, TAS doesn't hit hard with that atmospheric tone, save for a few examples. This EP completely bucks their tradition and changes the pace of their career. It's almost as if they listened to a lot of Behemoth and got tired with their own sound. This EP is really, really big compared to the scale of the rest of their discography.