Death is June- Phobetor : " A Solitary Vigil"

It seems I have kept most blackened death metal out of the conversation this year. Perhaps not by mistake as it tends to fall predictably on either side of the fence. This album is worth inviting in. I like the haunting guitar melodies that paint the background of the title track that opens this one. The scathing scowl of the vocals is typically more of a mid-range snarl with lower death metal accents. The guitars and drive of the song are the death metal part of the equation.

 Clean guitar provides the calm before the storm as they rage into a sonically in-your-face sweeping charge of sound. It took a second listen for it to really click with me, as there are some subtle elements to this. The drums are not one of them, as they come crashing at you like a hurricane. The burly bass giving "Fading Black Winter" its backbone helps anchor it in a more Entombed-like corner of death metal. "The Vacant Worlds Within Us" roars out from the previous song. It works off a more tremolo-picked guitar line, and the drums slow down to indulge the band in a more desolate mood. They do not sprawl out and overindulge themselves keeping the songs forever wearing out their welcome.

There is some atmospheric dissonance with the last song, which keeps things interesting, as the vocals maintain the vocal scowl that has dominated this album. They strap you in and take you on their ride with this bone crusher of a closer, which finds them really capturing a nice balance of what they do as a band on this song. I will give this one a 9 and see how it sits with me. Heavy but with enough darker mood to keep the death metal aggresion interesting. 

4.7

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Death is June - Phobetor : "When Life Falls Silent"

This death metal band did not hook me in until the second song. I would not say this is metal core, though it is a newer school of death metal than the bulk of what I have been reviewing for this months Death is June. I like how they use disonance and keep their melodies ugly. Yes there is also some degree of black metal influence particularly when it comes to the darker side of their ugly sound , but they are not blackened death metal. Branded as just extreme metal, I find most of this he this is used they are just a death metal band, and that is the case here. They have a more organic sound than many of the more modern death metal bands doing similar.

Their lead screamer is female. Debora Conserva who prvoes she can also sing on "Whispers of Dissonance" . She does so rather sparinginly and the emphasis is placed on keeping the death metal thing going.  The first hint on the kind of break down metal core thing is on " Blind Widow". This is more stompy and mid paced with a dynamic sense of eerie atmosphere at the corners of the song. There are also perhaps even darker and more melodic dynamic shifts on "Pyschopathy". It has more of a metal core flavored stomp to it. They back off some going into "Bury My Name" and still come roaring back. There is a pretty powerful chug to "Harmony of Solitude" . The vocals have a chanted quality to their growl.

"Dysmorphia" runs off cut and paste modern death metal riffs. Aside from the trade off with the low to high growls and screams nothings really makes it stand out. It is more listenable than the bullk of new metal core / death metal coming out. The last song "When Life Falls Silent" at least has more nuanced guitars going into it and Debora using a more spoken vocal to give some dynamics to when they crunch in with the heaviness. I will give this album a 9, for what it is they excel at what they do and Conserva's voice helps push it over the edge and add more dimensions. This comes out July 17th on Black Jasper Records.