It’s time for Phrenelith to reign again.
More than three years have passed since their last album, but David (guitar/vocals, Ulcerot, Undergang, Wormridden, ex-Hyperdontia), S.D (bass/guitar/vocals, Alucarda, Ascendency), Jakob (bass, ex-Sulphurous) and Andreas Nordgreen (drums, Chaotian, Sequestrum, live for Undergang) now unveil Ashen Womb, their third studio album, in collaboration with Dark Descent Records and Me Saco Un Ojo Records.
Noemata‘s sound is immediately oppressive and disquieting, but with a certain melodic, albeit cold, touch that links it all to Death Metal until Astral Larvae, where Danish-style violence resurfaces. Thick riffs and cavernous screams hit the spot, as does their relentless rhythm, which slows only to become more mysterious or give way to scathing harmonics before A Husk Wrung Dry takes its place with raw and similar patterns. There’s a rather repetitive and impressive aspect to the vocal parts, but the track passes quickly enough, and the band segues into the haunting Lithopaedion, which hits us hard and doesn’t hesitate to include some dark leads in this block of fury. Nebulae offers us a short, salvific respite before moving on with new, thick riffs at a good pace, which still add that captivating, aggressive touch before a much calmer, hypnotic final that slowly joins Stagnated Blood, where the sound once again ignites. Blasts and impenetrable rhythms take us by surprise and stun us in their frantic charge that leads to a noisy finale, but also and above all to Sphageion, an intriguing interlude where some percussion awaits us between the dissonant keys. Once this dark moment has passed, Chrysopoeia returns to greasy Death Metal with its wild patterns, but also the more complex passages the musicians use to create these dark, disordered bursts. The sound of waves and wind accompany us for the opening moments of Ashen Womb, the final, eponymous track that borrows its suffocating slowness from Death Doom, its eruptions of fury from Brutal Death and its heady guitars from more ethereal influences, which accompany us through the second half of the track, before sinking into silence.
Phrenelith‘s music has always been of the highest quality, and Ashen Womb follows this commitment to the letter. The album is perfect in terms of length, but also in terms of violence and oppression!
95/100