Fallout
(Supreme Chaos Records)
35:55min
It was surely a pity when in 2018 DEW-SCENTED finally went into thrashing retirement. But followers didn’t have to wait too long to get a fresh charge from front-speaker Leif Jensen. In 2015 he founded PHANTOM CORPORATION with German musicians Philipp Schulte (ex – ERODED) and Arne Berents (ex – WEAK ASIDE) on guitars plus Marc-Andrée Dieken on drums (ex – WEAK ASIDE, ex – OBSCENITY). After a few treats in the form of EPs and splits, which have been released gradually over the past few years, they are now releasing their debut full-length “Fallout”, to provide a comprehensive taste of their style that merged Death Metal, Crust-Punk wildness and a decent Thrash flavor on the riffs. The aggression of the music is hardly surprising. After all, those involved have earned their spurs in the past, and continuing that flow, all of the tracks have a spontaneous, explosive rage about them. ‘Dead Inside’ goes right to it, showing everything the band’s got. Let’s say it’s an appetizer of what is to come. In view of the rather dystopian subject matters, it will be almost outrageously much fun to screw your head off your neck to song tornadoes like ‘Gridlock’, groove hammers like ‘Vortex Of Torment’, the punkish riffing massacre of ‘No Tomorrow’ or the riff-heavy aggression in ‘The Echoes of Doom’ – altogether a raw hunk of Death Thrash, dominated by Jensen’s throat slitting strong nagging, with a crusty basic sound. But that never sounds monotonous or overtly repetitive, on the contrary, it is always evident that the musicians have a lot on the box and easily you can hear the troops experience and technical sophistication. The album was produced by Jörg Uken at Soundlodge Recording (GOD DETHRONED, TEMPLE OF DREAD) and the production suitably expresses the sledgehammering sound and inherent energy of the whole record. Altogether, with the fanatic combination of somewhere between DEW-SCENTED, ENTOMBED, DISMEMBER, SLAYER and various representatives of Crust, PHANTOM CORPORATION manages to settle a solid debut full-length output and should lure many fanatic and phantom heads for several spins. To find out more about the band and label, visit www.facebook.com/phantomcorporation, www.facebook.com/supremechaos.de.
Randolph Whateley
• PHANTOM CORPORATION - First Commandment (Michael Kujawska)
• PHANTOM CORPORATION - Interview (Frank Stöver)