Phazm
Cornerstone of the Macabre

Genetics teaches us that the mixing of blood makes it stronger and more complete: the same statement can be easily applied to the rightful heirs of the now-defunct (but unforgettable, in my opinion) Pungent Stench, namely the French band Phazm, who have reached their third full-length album, "Cornerstone of the Macabre," in their still brief career.

Black humor, deviant and putrescent, horror western atmospheres and death metal perversions, bluegrass ballads and voodoo blues, thrash stabs straight from the '80s, and black'n'roll: from the fusion of these, you get the winning recipe of these crazy and very brave Frenchmen who, perhaps as an ambiguous form of self-defense, have voluntarily labeled themselves as a death'n'roll band. However, if you expect to find in this album even a faint connection with the putative fathers of the genre, Entombed, well, you will be very disappointed or if you prefer, positively bewildered and pleasantly surprised.

A kaleidoscope of warm, acidic, and macabre moods pervades the entire work, giving each song its visceral and unique mood: there is no predetermined formula according to which the threads of songwriting are moved, there are no photocopy songs or useless fillers, and even the most bizarre episodes (and I assure you that the bizarre and the naïve reign here) can still remain in a context rich in death metal nuances (especially in the vocals, a growl that is never exasperated, halfway with the classic evil bark typical of black metal) without being disconnected or forcibly alien to a naturalness that instead amazes minute after minute, listen after listen: Phazm are not only rotten to the core, but they know how to be so with disarming elegance and awareness.

The whole thing is made even more cohesive and friendly flowing thanks to a truly enviable instrumental technique, moreover, never gratuitously exhibited, but measured just right to make the countless changes of atmosphere and riffs (as well as the wonderfully bluesy and wah-wah solos) easily digestible and almost as if they were a natural consequence of the compositional score.

"Cornerstone of the Macabre" is a little gem composed of 11 precious stones that deserve to be analyzed track by track, from the driving uptempo of the ironic opener "Love me to Rotten", to the more traditional (so to speak) and concluding death song "Adrift", passing through the crazy and doomish "Welcome to my Funeral" (with a mouth harmonica worthy of envy from Charles Bronson in "Once Upon a Time in the West," as well as the Fields of the Nephilim in "Dawnrazor," maliciously and masterfully inserted in the most evocative part of the song), through really disturbed and disturbing episodes like the country "Mucho Mojo" (there are no words, you have to listen to it) and the depressed bluegrass "Strange Song", to then explode in an "all muscle and tuning below the legal" version of the classic "Damage Inc." by Metallica. 

In short, from ZZ Top to Morbid Angel, from Motorhead to Chris Isaak, there is something for everyone, just have an open mind, because linearity and cliché are not at home here.

Enjoy listening.