Skip to main content

DSKNT – PhSPHR Entropy

DSKNT – PhSPHR Entropy
Sentient Ruin Records – 2017

DSKNT has been active since 2013, and somehow I only discovered them recently. As a fan of catastrophic black metal à la Deathspell Omega or Plebeian Grandstand, I was delighted to find another band in the relatively barren field of good avant garde black metal.

The album kicks off with the best kind of strange, unnerving riff that sends a warning to the listener – you're in for a project with greater amplitude than most. Almost all of the riffs, excluding one or two in the latter portion of the record, have been soaked in the bath of avant garde, dripping with experimentation. Not scared of narrative composition, giving us a trip into his strange maze of a mind, Asknt creates sinuous riffs, with jagged edges and unnatural angles, but with more focus on the sinues and flow than similar artists, who often go for a slightly sharper aesthetic. There are moments of clarity, descents into madness, and long trips across bleak hellscapes laden with jagged rubble and void of life – PhSPHR Entropy is one hell of a story.

Everything is fluently played, with great articulation and tone – something that's necessary when going for this style of black metal. The drums are worth a mention as being impressive, despite their limited space in the mix. Obviously, the aesthetic of the album requires high guitar mixes, but there are still great fills that go on for multiple bars that embellish PhSPHR Entropy and give it that little edge. Another instrument that goes unnoticed in black metal is the bass, which is much clearer here than in other more orthodox bands. Some slides and interesting bass lines can be heard, but it's the fluttering, almost buzzing drone it generates that has the most relevant effect - the album gains a lot of power from simple 16th note drones.

There is a noise interlude, and it's exactly as eerie as you'd expect it to be. Synth backgrounds are present, and while I'm not sure wether there's a field recording of a factory or it's something else, Asknt has certainly nailed the dark ambient/industrial/noise sound. My only complaint was the lack of vocals, which, given the performance on the album, could only make it better. Speaking of vocals, they're the second star of the album.


While Asknt's style is slightly closer to your traditional black metal vocalist, he still manages to surprise from time to time. As the album develops, so does his voice – there are moments wherein he actually sounds reversed, an impressive feat which inspired fear in my heart for a second. Other times he'll enter songs with almost untimely bellows of anger, and overall he reinforces the already liquid dynamics with his singing.




Giuseppe Fitzsimmons

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Five the Hierophant – Over Phlegeton

Five the Hierophant – Over Phlegeton Dark Essence Records – 2017 There's a rare breed of album which instantly becomes a cult classic, and I can confidently say Over Phlegeton is one of them. Experimental, weird, bizarre, none of these words come close to describing just how extraordinary and interesting this record is. If I had to draw parallels with another band, I'd say it's a heavier, more mature version of Mamaleek, with many similar elements such as the ethnic percussions or non-traditional scales, but with a much darker visage and more detailed composition. There have been incredible avant-garde metal albums using unconventional instruments, but none have been so tactfully used as the saxophone is on Over Phlegeton. Played as a full instrument and not a token nod to some jazzy experimentation, Five the Hierophant explore the extremeties of what the sax can do – from screaming leads floating above the guitars to wailing voices in the wind, passing by hear...

Phrenelith – Desolate Endscape

Phrenelith Desolate Endscape – 2017 Remember when the Internet went crazy for Pissgrave – Suicide Euphoria (Profound Lore Records) back in 2015 ? It's time for a new riot straight from the abyss, and the demon's name is Phrenelith. Born in 2013 in Copenhagen, Phrenelith started their career out with a split with Spectral Voice (Iron Bonehead, 2016), followed shortly by an EP (Chimaerian Offspring – Extremely Rotten Productions, 2017) and a masterpiece of an album, Desolate Endscape (Dark Descent Records, 2017). Desolate Endscape is the kind of album that reminds me why I like death metal – it's inherently primal , evil and intimidating. This record is a massive slab of death metal, dense and heavy and being thrown at your face. The fact that there's zero flourish or unnecessary technicality brings Phrenelith to the forefront of the cavemanesque caverncore scene that's been simmering for the past decade. The entire album drips with ichor, and while ...

Kataplexia – The Rise of the Unknown

Kataplexia – The Rise of the Unknown January 2019 – Rotten Music Kataplexia is Finland's best Indonesian brutal death metal band. You read that right, Indonesian is now a valid qualifier for brutal death metal. For those unaware, I explored and wrote about the Southeast Asian brutal death metal scene two years ago, discovering a gigantic scene with an uncharacteristic public acceptance. One of the members of Jasad began a side-project, Kaluman, which is the definition of high-quality Southeast Asian brutal death metal. A couple seconds into Kataplexia's latest, I expected to see Rottervore or Extreme Souls as their label, as every element pointed towards Indonesian origins – the tone, production, vocals, riffs and even album art all felt like Ferli Suferli (Jasad, Kaluman) was behind the project, yet Helsinki is listed as their base of operations. Admittedly, there's only so much one can actually say about the music without endless comparisons. A modern ...