Sometimes it is simply refreshing to hear new music, that sounds truly old school. There are so much bands doing it wrong way, feeling that they just wanted to be old school in their mind, but in their souls they aren't. Phidion come from the other end of that spectrum. Phidion came to be after the abortion of Ruins Of Time (never heard of 'em) in 2003, when three guys from that band decided to form a new band. In August, after two demo releases (never heard 'em), they put out another self-released work, the EP titled 'Flesh of the Forsaken'.

On the cover, there's a humongous pile of human skulls laying in a desert, with some birds finding something to eat. Well, that shows that Phidion aren't about fluffy side of life, but mean dirty business with their death/thrash metal. Phidion's alloy sounds like it contains both, European and North American, elements of these extreme genres. Bands such as Hypocrisy, Vomitory and Cannibal Corpse come to my mind while spinning Phidion. That list includes only the important ones, even though I hear a lot of familiar things here. Sometimes fast, evil and brutal, sometimes more headbangable thrashing or groovy beats. There's also some black metal influenced riffing heard. The band count upon catchy or somewhat technical riffs, frequent tempo changes and occasional melody work. The band clearly try to keep their in motion and also characteristic. At times it works, and during other times not so well. Some of the songs simply aren't distinctive.

Phidion utilize a drum machine, and that's the only thing here that does not really belong to their old school mentality. Gladly they didn't fuck it all up with this decision. While they use much better samples there than about one and a million of their peers, it's still easily noticeable, thanks to it's... Well, machiney feel especially on faster tempos. The vocals are split between low and fleshy growl and Chris Barnes style more high pitched hoarse growl. The guitar sounds hefty, and the bass used is probably fretless one, as it is so Steve DiGiorgio-esque with nimble fretboard runs.

The music is not as varying as the lyrical themes. War, demons of insomnia, Moby Dick, horror movies ("Zombie Holocaust" and "Antropophagus") and comics ("Strontium Dog"). Nicely deviating texts, in my opinion. There is promise in Phidion's 'Flesh of the Forsaken', but the similarity of music and elusive compositions are two main demerits for the band.

Rating: 6- (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
01/13/2013 18:42