### Dephosphorus: Axiom

#### 12/03/12 || Habakuk

First of all, this can be downloaded for free here. Secondly, it’s awesome. And when they actually sent it in to get reviewed, I finally got off my lazy ass to save this from the “Stubs” treatment.

Judging from their website, the guys in Dephosphorus seemingly know and understand what Global Domination is all about, so hi and kudos to them for that. Just change the “outspoken and opinionated” part into “correct” next time. Judging from “Axiom”, they also know and understand how to compose and execute great “Astrogrind”, as they call it. Translated into human language that means something along the lines of progressively chaotic, grindy death metal with cosmic, “astral” lyrical topics. No, it has nothing in common with Cynic.

The band, having an unexpectedly full sound for a three-piece with only two instruments, batter and burn their way through seven songs between 2:00 and 3:50, whose only concession to order seems to be that they’re sorted alphabetically. The rest is a raw-sounding amalgamation of booming drums, genuinely eerie-sounding guitar leads, high speed and wicked grooves. All that is mashed into a pulp and topped off with hollow, throaty death metal screaming. Yet after you get over the, at first glance, weirdly treble-heavy but “round” sound of the whole affair, you will find that all of these songs actually come across as decidedly well-arranged. Chaotic as it may appear, emanating from this audio nebula are interspersed, catchy bits that never let this become a meaningless noise wall.

Thus, the band manage to keep together what they source in bits and pieces from a lot of different influences: spaced-out Nocturnus-like synth samples (however a lot more tastefully employed) meet a production and feel analogous to Portal and dissonant proceedings à la Ulcerate, all combined with a healthy dose of grindcore. And in this sort of combination, this not only is a great album, but really a one-of-a-kind sounding effort. And how many new bands can claim that for their debut? Whatever number you have in mind, it’s actually less. Weird, huh? Now do yourself a favor and give “Axiom” a shot.

- Information
- Released: 2011
- Label: independent / 7Degrees records
- Website: www.dephosphorus.com
- Band
- Panos Agoros: vocals
- Thanos Mantas: guitars
- Nikos Megariotis: drums, backing vocals

- Tracklist
- 01. Collimator
- 02. Continuum
- 03. Dephosphorus
- 04. Indulge me in silence
- 05. On the verge of an occurrence
- 06. Knife missile
- 07. The long crossing