UMUR
"Enveloping Absurdity" is the debut full-length studio album by US, North Dakota based death metal act Phobophilic. The album was released through Prosthetic Records in September 2022. Phobophilic formed in 2016 in Fargo and have released two demos, an EP, and a split with Canadian death metal act Sedimentum before being signed for the release of "Enveloping Absurdity".
Stylistically the material on "Enveloping Absurdity" continues the Demilich/Adramelech influenced old school death metal style with a semi-technical twist, which Phobophilic have played since day one. After listening to the 2019 "Undimensioned Identities" EP, I was a bit disappointed that Phobophilic had opted for a relatively one-dimensional unintelligible growling vocal style, because the vocals on their 2017 "Demo 1" featured some pretty aggressive and intense vocals, which were a great asset to that release. Well...my disappointment continues regarding the vocals on "Enveloping Absurdity" because it would seem that the one-dimensional unintelligible growling vocal style is now Phobophilic´s prefered singing style. It´s actually not because it´s bad or doesn´t suit the music, but it´s just when you know that they once delivered something which was a lot more interesting and intense, it´s hard not to feel a little disappointed.
That aside (I wasn´t planning on the description of the vocals becoming such a huge part of my review), Phobophilic still deliver a varied, dark, and twisted old school death metal attack, featuring many tempo changes, morbid leads, a dark surreal atmosphere, and a great organic playing style. "Enveloping Absurdity" features a well sounding production job too, so upon conclusion it´s a high quality debut album from Phobophilic and they can rightfully be proud of this release. A 3.5 - 4 star (75%) rating is deserved.
