Top Ten Albums of 2017
#3: Phrenelith - Desolate Endscape.
This is the first full-length release from these Danish dealers in death metal, and I think that I would be hard-pressed to distinguish between this and Dead Congregation in a blind taste-test,
#3: Phrenelith - Desolate Endscape.
This is the first full-length release from these Danish dealers in death metal, and I think that I would be hard-pressed to distinguish between this and Dead Congregation in a blind taste-test,
as the material, timbre and production are so similar (this is not a bad thing). Song structures generally use alternately blasty and doomy sections to create and resolve tension, and there are plenty of Swedeath-style tremolo-picked passages that have their own internal tension
(playing a slow melody using lots of very fast notes), so the music has a gratifyingly purposeful feel. Sections of thrashier riffing and the use of minimalist-but-effective thematic leadwork add atypical contrasts that keep things interesting.
A dirty, cavernous production lends the sound an extra heaviness, and the harrowingly low-pitched drawn-out gutteral vocals counterpoint the more manic feel of the music. Standout tracks: Channeling a Seismic Eruption, Crawling Shadows Slithering Tongues, Desolate Endscape.
