Under Phoenix Phenomenon

Under Phoenix Phenomenon is the second effort by Divina Enema, avant-garde metal from Belarus. Its strong gothic aestethics, combined with a variety of genres - which includes prog metal, black metal, folk, soft rock, electronic music and even pop - makes this an unique recording. Sadly, this album (and even the band) couldn't please most listeners, having strongly mixed reviews, mostly negative. This band is either excellent or terrible, not even having a middle ground.

One particularity about the band is Yaroslav's vocals. At first I didn't like the gargoyle-ish tune, but it simply blends to the music. Yaroslav's an actor, playing many roles as demons and creatures on the album's concept. This epic is about a factory worker who started to have hallucinations of fantasy creatures, demons... and even Devil himself. His madness went so far he commited suicide - jumping in a hot cauldron from the factory. He leaves no corpse for a funeral. Curiously, it's impossible to find Under Phoenix Phenomenon's lyrics anywhere on the internet (only lyrics of their demo To Wight Shall Never Shine and At The Conclave, though), so it'll be difficult to understand the lyrics because of Yaroslav's strong accent.

The songs' structures are at some times predictable, but most tracks get you by surprise, which maintains some balance on the album. Different genres are present on each track, like the black metal tune on Demon Mastery Top Level and Total Core Melting (whose harsh vocals were recorded by another singer from a fellow black metal band), soft rock on God Bless You Bastards (the shortest track of the album), and electropop on No Corpse - No Funeral, one of the main tracks of UPP, and the most utterly bizarre song as well, featuring machine drums, boings, and a somehow dancing beat. I'd consider the most accessible tracks being A Handful of Hay, ...Of Day and Funeral to Come and Fee Nicks Fen' Omen On (nice name).

The production quality is an overall improvement to the At The Conclave. It's fairly decent, not being under or overproduced. The instruments are well mixed, despite of lack of bass in some tracks. The songs are memorable, especially the vocals. If you manage to listen to it, you'll be singing Demon Mastery Top Level in the shower. Despite all that, Divina Enema is still disliked by most people, being labeled as a joke and as the worst band ever. Can't really blame them, since the band's sound is extremely hard to digest. I think it's a brilliant and original album, and I can't stop listening to it. Give it a try, though, if you're really, REALLY into new, weird stuff (Meshuggah not on the list). This recording is not for everyone.