Phobocosm - Deprived (2014)

   Phobocosm had a quite impressive debut by "Deprived", that didn't really sounded like an experimental first hit of newbies, but more like the well composed work of already experienced musicians.
   "Deprived" is interesting from another perspective too. It was mentioned before that the New Wave of Old School Death Metal had advantageous influence on the late '80s, early '90s inspired bands. This combined with the minimalist trend from the late '00s brought back the long forgotten and back then also short lived and underrated death/doom subgenre by slowly increasing numbers of new bands. The focus was mainly on noisy sound and on its possibilities, and slowly, step by step complexity have returned. Phobocosm was one of the first newly formed bands whose music reflected this tendency from the beginning. They relied on the combination of overwhelming heaviness and noisy sound assisted by deep growling vocal style. The slow, ominous themes are frequently switching to brutal intensity. Similar switches did appear previously at some funeral doom bands with a more modern and therefore diverse approach like Ataraxie for instance, but their speed ups were kinda occasional. Similar, longer lasting intensity and complexity  might remind more to Incantation. In fact similar bands are mainly responsible for the afterwards increasing importance of Incantation's music, since their name is impossible to avoid when it's about this specific direction. The creation of such great song compositions, that are basically balancing between musical minimalism and technicality by actively applying the effectiveness of both, definitely needs skilled and well practiced musicians. In total, Phobocosm debuted with a masterpiece that's strongly recommended for the fans of death metal and unfriendliest form of death/doom.