Along their enduring path toward acceptance of death as foregone Montréal, Quebec-based death metal quartet PHOBOCOSM take prolonged detour in examination of mankind’s most historic delusion of life everlasting, or, in Christocentric terms “eternal life” and how its promise and pursuit has distorted the human condition towards cruel acts en masse. This diabolic fourth full-length album serves as both addendum and showcase of consistency of vision within their career-spanning dementia as ‘Gateway‘ carries trait and timbre from their third record atop unused compositions dating back to their beginnings, building vital entrant from both old and new assertions.

Phobocosm appeared to have capped off a perceived trilogy of miserable, dramatically stated atmospheric death metal records via their third LP (‘Foreordained‘, 2023), an album I’d reviewed favorably and set at #13 on my Top 75 Albums of the Year, but it wasn’t the entirety of the material recorded from those sessions. This second LP recorded with Xavier Berthiaume at Studio Tehom, ‘Gateway‘, apparently pulls together unused compositions from each of their previous three records in an attempt to fully close the door upon the conceptual triad writ up to this point. A well-respected name in the pure death metal underground since the early 2010’s these folks are known for sporting a style most obviously compared to early 2000’s Immolation but beyond that obviate stem it’d be fair to view the band’s work thus far as contemporaneous with that of Dead Congregation where classicism yet allows for rhythmic abstraction. The easy elevator pitch for their sound between actual fandom has long been something like the rhythmic lean of ‘Harnessing Ruin‘ via Relapse-era Ulcerate. With this history and circumstance in mind you’ll find album number four naturally hits like an addendum to ‘Foreordained‘ and likely only exists because -all- of their material is that good and shouldn’t be left behind.

‘Gateway‘ reflects the sound and sensibilities of ‘Foreordained‘ in the most obviate ways with production values exactly on par, visual curation from the same folks (cover art via Lauri Laaksonen), and of course the style of the band hasn’t drastically mutated since their inception in the late 2000’s. What is somewhat different here is the running order, the flow of the full listen and how it presents the four main pieces at the heart of its statement. That is to say that Phobocosm have written a three part instrumental escalation in “Corridor” parts I, II, and III which serve as interludium and interconnecting blocks between the second, fourth, and sixth songs on the album. While this might appear jerry-rigged together into a full-length at a glance the full effect flows together much in the same way the four-song glom of ‘Bringer of Drought‘ (2016) had, and at similar length.

Heat blurred and spire-filled landscapes crack apart at the sounding of vocalist/bassist E.B.‘s subterranean call, introducing opener “Deathless” with slithering hands across slow-chunking riffs which thunder from beneath as the steady reveal of Phobocosm‘s roll raises unto sauntering doom and gloom. Though I could be off this is to me the song that is likely most related to their approach on ‘Deprived‘ (2014) per the shuddering release of its main progression in the second half. Its collapse into “Unbound” is one of my favorite parts of ‘Gateway‘ in that it conveys passage, fall from a high place beyond the portal this record generates. That second song offers no such drop as it progresses, writhing and veering through its downcast glowering tones as we greet the expanse beyond the opener. It isn’t the most shocking introduction to one of these folks’ records where the bar is already set this high but the effect separates it from the cadence of ‘Foreordained‘ for the moment.

From that point we brave the first of three corridors with instrumental “Corridor I – The Affliction” leading into the more violently struck stance of “Sempiternal Penance”. While these pieces do not align exactingly the layers of riff crashing around within the former groan and trample within similarly bent movements, exaggerations which whip heavily within their signature dual-enlaced rhythm guitar work. The level of havoc applied to this song is what most folks would expect and want from a Phobocosm record in general though I don’ know that they’ve fully reached the abominant furor of ‘Foreordained‘ until landing upon standout “Beyond the Threshold of Flesh” as this appears to be a more recent song, as far as I can tell, in terms of the guitar techniques used and the patience of its swaying, dissonantly rung gear-grinding movement. On such a brief album I’d felt this was the piece that’d brought the most immersive and blustering sense of placement into the fray above the others and partially thanks to how “Corridor II – The Descent” motions directly into it.

Even if you’d decide to peck around at ‘Gateway‘ for the sake of knowing how it were built the effect and resonance of Phobocosm‘s work is not at all lessened by its ingenious cobbling into sound architecture. The full listen isn’t a shocking revelation but rather good iteration upon the band’s brilliant prior LP. I don’t know that the experience strikes as purposed and coherent as ‘Foreordained‘ had a couple of years ago, not quite, yet their craft is no less profound in its voluminous course through. It’d be fair to say this may just as well’ve been an EP sans the interludes included but with each listen I’d found they’d only added to my own experience, as an existing fan I was more interested to figure when each piece was first devised and how they’d drawn a map from past to present within this record. If you are a fan of this brand of dark atmospheric death metal, or simply already a huge fan of the band, ‘Gateway‘ should prove essential. A very high recommendation.

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