Blackdeath: Phobos

phobosBlackdeath are a brother duo from St. Petersburg, Russia and play black metal with a dash of thrash and German lyrics about Satanism. Some may have heard of Blackdeath through their splits with more popular acts such as Horna, Leviathan (U.S.), and Mortifera. With kvlt and Lucifer in their calloused hearts, they have created Phobos, their seventh album and boy it is a journey with seven tracks at 46 minutes and 39 seconds.

 

And this journey was god awful. It was seriously a struggle to get through one single play through despite several attempts. Blackdeath took three to four riffs and used them throughout the entire album with minor changes just to attempt to be different. The worst part is that they are not even good riffs. Not only are they boring but it sounds poorly played which may be a choice in the album production but never should the listener doubt the musician’s ability to play their respective instrument. The guitar solos that sometimes save the listener are a respite for a brief moment in time from the repetition that plagues Phobos (haha get it?). The drums and bass are also seriously lacking. They are not exciting and do not add any substance to the songs and just become background noise to the already atrocious guitars. Seriously, please just listen to the first two minutes of each song and you will understand our complaints because that is how long it takes to notice their lack of creativity.

 

 

Most black metal bands also alter the vocals making them more distant, raw, and visceral but Blackdeath for better or worse do not change their sound. While the vocals are not very praiseworthy, they sound great live. Their performances are a surprise! Available on Youtube. The biggest complaint is the emphasis on the rolling R’s. They become quickly overused and detract from the already un-kvlt atmosphere.

 

With seven albums under their belt, you would hope for a plethora of creative ideas but it seems they are spitting out albums for the sake of it. The fact that bands such as Leviathan, Leviathan for fuck’s sake, wanted to a split with these guys is astounding. While time has not been invested in their previous releases to come to a conclusion of Blackdeath, Phobos has done nothing to suggest that perhaps they have had better releases earlier in their history. If you are looking for cold, black metal in Blackdeath, step back, turn around, and walk away and treat it like the plague.

 

Blackdeath Official Facebook

Written by Cole Olson

Blackdeath: Phobos
Heidens Heart Records
1.5 / 5