Phree Phrenelith Phriday!
Just over one year since their 2017 crusher Desolate Endscape, rising Danish death metal troupe Phrenelith surprised everyone dropping a scrotum smashing free EP yesterday. You need this.
You all heard Desolate Endscape. You all got crushed. You probably weren’t expecting that you’d be pancaked again so soon. But, my friends, it do be like that. It really do. Thanks to this unexpected apocalyptic hot rock landing on us yesterday, we’re all feeling a little flat, but not in the soft metaphorical way; more in the literal sheets of skin and shit spread out across the terrain, kind of way.
Well, don’t even bother collecting your entrails and jamming them back inside your carcass, because Phrenelith’s two-track two-tonne bomb Ornamented Dead Eyes will leave you looking exactly like the poor bastard depicted on the cover in about 10 minutes.
The first track, ‘Triumphing Blight’, is an armoured tank rolling atop a field of cracking craniums, calcified shrapnel being sent in every direction under the weight of its pounding rhythm section and militaristic riffing assault. Every aspect of its attack is percussive; a real bang, or be banged affair. However, the title track is where things get a little more adventurous for the band. There are some more exotic modes/note choices creeping in to both the riffs and the leads, and while Phrenelith haven’t gone phull-blown phrygian, there’s definitely more than a just hint of Eastern melody creeping in. Cap it off with a brief but not less noticeable reverb-laced clean overdub à la Spectral Voice, and you’ve sold me. A full-length of just this style of death metal would suit me just fucken fine.
But don’t just take my word for it, here are some testamonials from people who know what the hell they’re talking about.
“Phrenelith continue to consistently pump out Quality Content. Ornamented Dead Eyes is everything you’ve come to expect, but expanded and more dynamic (MELODY! HARMONIES! UTTER CHAOS!)”
– Leif Bearikson
“Continuing in the trail of devastation forged by their debut, Phrenelith have returned a year later with a two song EP of heightened ambitions tempered by a dense, grounded mindset. The powerful and distinctly Scandinavian yet non-Swedeath leads of the debut return but the band work them through a wider variety of tempo and idiosyncratic structures. There’s more breathing room now yet the funereal atmosphere created through the juxtaposition of creeping melody and rigid steamrolling riffs is even more oppressive and suffocating than the debut. A great example of maturation without the usual superficialities that have clung onto the term”
– Sepulcrustacean
“Something’s rotten in the state of Denmark. A complex system of caves and tunnels pervades the country, from which abhorrent sounds emanate at night. While the accompanying stench of death used to make people approach these with caution, lately, careless travellers have been lured into the abysses and sinkholes by alluring melodies, never to be seen again.”
– Hans
“This even made my balls hard”
– Anonymous
As with all our recommendations on Free Metal Detector, they’re available to download at no cost but we encourage you to swing them a couple of coins for their collective troubles.
