Algophobia

After having Algophobia’s self-titled debut album for a while now, I still find it difficult to compare them to other bands. As with a lot of bands that are shrouded by obscurity, there’s a certain charm to them that most other bands out there can’t match. It certainly makes it hard to review the album in question, but let’s give it a try, anyway.

Algophobia play death metal, with a slight overlap of technicality – not close to Necrophagist standards. It’s more similar to Cannibal Corpse, where every now and again they’ll come up with something that’s not quite a regular time signature. On top of this, the whole album is glazed with thrash overtones, most recognisable by the guitar. Some of the riffs have a death/thrash quality to them, which is not detrimental. The slower opening to “Eternal Hope” has a certain thrashy quality to it, but at the same time, it’s death metal. The vocals help steer this into a virtual genre no-man’s land, too, since they could fit in thrash and death metal. Like I said, it’s hard to compare this…Yyrkoon play a death/thrash style of music themselves, but this is nothing like them. Algophobia basically carved a groove out for themselves with this.

The soloing is really good, showing off the guitarist’s skills and without delving into so-called “wankery,” which has exploded as a derogatory term in the metal scene. Most of them are melodic and don’t drag on too long, either.

The drumming is the loudest instrument on this release, mostly due to the snare drum, which is right at the forefront. For those who dislike triggered drumming, let yourself be immersed in the performance here. The triggerless drums are the biggest aspect, and give the whole album an organic feel. Every drum hit has a slight echo, which I like, and again adds to the organic tone. His whole performance here is a stand-out.

Algophobia, while I really like it, doesn’t get a lot of play time. I feel that once I’ve heard it, I’m fairly overwhelmed by it, and I can put it away for weeks and still be satisfied. There’s a lot of vocals, and they’re fairly dominant, so maybe that’s why. Still, if you can find this album somewhere, definitely pick it up. Death and thrash metal enthusiasts will definitely enjoy this.