Follow Deliria on its dreamlike adventures.
Seven years after their debut album, the band comprising Adam Rupp (vocals), David Scanlon (guitar), Jade Ordonez (bass), Brent Rockwell (guitar) and most recently Brandon « Billy » Clevenstine (drums, Symbolik) unveil the release of Phantasm, their second album.
The drum parts were recorded by Andrew Baird (Muldrotha, ex-Fallujah) before he stepped down.
The jerky, Prog-influenced rhythm of Smoke & Mirrors is the first to strike, creating a kind of unpredictable atmosphere where hazy Black Metal and visceral howls eventually appear. Bass lends a relatively melodic touch to the fascinating dissonance, then it’s with a slower more ethereal final that the sound gives way to Gemini‘s heady harmonics, which gradually turn into an unbearable flood of darkness that comes at us in waves, led by virulent drums. There’s an almost playful approach in the closing moments, contrasting with the vocal parts and oppression of Phantasm, the eponymous composition, which immediately buries us under its raw, dark Old School tones, no matter how fast it progresses. The rhythm seems ready to ignite, but softens with the icy Attic, which becomes even more impressive in the haunting parts, where only a few guitar notes float around the wild screams, before returning to a slightly livelier form with Reckless, which also offers sudden accelerations that fit perfectly with this effective touch. We think the track is over, but it resumes for a final saturated waltz, joining the disquieting Covenant where growls meet a basis which is first soothing, then more worked out, mixing all sorts of influences before coming to an abrupt halt to let the intense Spellcraft carry us away in its torrent anchored in the roots of Atmospheric Black Metal. The track easily hypnotizes us, but it remains quite short in contrast to the ten minutes of Oblivion, the last composition, during which the band lets our minds wander in its ethereal landscape, which brings together all the elements of its music, from the gentlest to the most aggressive.
Deliria bewitches us with its dark universe tinged with hovering touches, making the Phantasm experience unforgettable. Atmospheric roots welcome all kinds of components to become unique.
85/100
