Review: Phasma – Purgatory

February 23, 2026

We are a pulsating tumor on the Earth’s festering flesh.

International blackened deathcore project Phasma had thrown everything, including the kitchen sink, into their songwriting over the course of two independently released full-length albums so far. Given their sonic progression up to this point, I was thinking they’d get even kookier with their new album Purgatory but instead they’ve served up a tighter and much more focused effort, this time with the support of black and death metal favorite Transcending Obscurity Records. Gone are the djent riffs that peppered Phasma’s 2018 self-titled debut and they’ve reigned in the overly scattered songwriting approach of 2022’s Epiales. It almost seems like the band had a clear mission to sharpen their craft and holy hell did they ever execute on Purgatory; this album rips in a furious fashion.

Fruitful musical collaboration can prove more challenging for a project whose members are spread across the globe, as is the case with Phasma. Guitarist and songwriter Jason Athanasiadas lives in Greece while vocalist Luis Ferre is based right here in the U.S. of A. While the modern internet makes it possible to share files and communicate between any two corners of the globe, it can still be hard to strike up a cohesive collaboration with viable chemistry, which is what I thought I was hearing in Phasma’s previous two albums. Everything seems to click in a newly harmonious way on Purgatory while retaining Phasma’s penchant for shoving a ton of ideas into each song.

My dad brain forgets song titles more often than I’d like to admit these days. It’s probably a result of balancing school dropoffs, tee ball practices and weekend grilling coupled with the sheer volume of new releases that I try to digest in any given year. That said, I really appreciate the assistance from Phasma by just assigning Roman numerals to the 6 tracks on Purgatory. It makes it so much easier for a guy like me who tends to refer to “the third track,” or “the last one.” Thank you Phasma for making me feel seen.

The album opens in obvious fashion with “I,” which has a dizzying intro that builds tension before being cut off by an abrupt blast of cleanly picked tremolo riffs and Luis Ferre’s frenetic vocals. Ferre bounces between several different vocal techniques from blackened screeches that will rip the paint off the wall to gutturals that sound like your local deathcore vocalist cupping a microphone on a 10-band bill. Not every one of Ferre’s approaches lands with me but they are almost always in service of the overall vibe and never fully throw me off of having a great time with this album.

Purgatory brings one high point after another, but “III” is a standout for how it builds and releases tension. There’s a doomy intro that swings into a brief atmospheric break, which is just a kayfabe before the song bludgeons with a demented-sounding tremolo riff and screeched vocals from Ferre. I love a good slam riff with thoughtfully placed pinch harmonics and there’s a great one about 2 minutes in on this song, as well as some tasty lead guitar work toward the end.

The riffs also go pretty crazy in “V,” where you can sort of hear the band’s earlier deathcore influences in the bounciness of the grooves yet it thankfully leans more heavily toward blackened death metal. The production sounds like someone dropping a stack of bricks on your head but it fits the oppressive tone of the album.

Everything is as it should be on Purgatory and Phasma has knocked it out of the park, far surpassing my expectations.