Preach Eternal Gospels

Phlebotomized is, undoubtedly, one of the most important bands of the progressive-extreme genre. They can definitely be included in the list of pioneers, because besides them at that time (do not forget that the album was recorded and composed in 1992 and faced some complication with release), only a very few bands like Swanö's Pan.thy.monium and Babylon Sad were playing something at such a high level and materialized it with means more complicated than simple tradable tape. Taking inspiration from such acts as Nocturnus, Pestilence ´91 and Paradise Lost (I bet they also had the self-released "Kyrie" by the aforementioned Babylon Sad, there's some similarities too), the band of 7 talented guys released their first professionally recorded mini-album. By that time the band, led by Tom Palms and Lawrence Payne, had two high-level demo recordings on their shoulders, and having got a full-fledged studio at their disposal soon after, they were ready to go all out, improving the sound quality of instruments and synthesizers.

The sound here is really good - every instrument (except, perhaps, the accompanying violin+keyboard part on track "Preach Eternal Gospels") is in its place and in its time, you don't feel any empty places or unsatisfying ear piercing moments. You just dive headfirst into this EP, listening to every detail contently, this time in great quality. As for Phlebotomized's music, at least for me personally, it has a special, almost supernatural ability to hold the listener's attention throughout, despite its intricacy and solid track length. For me, who is not always eager to bite through long opuses like Opeth's oversaturated art-rocky dishes or The Project Hate MCMXCIX's dragged-out songs, the band is unusually easy to digest. All the avant-garde elements are not some insurmountable obstacle to listen through. The music is still pretty close to its death body frame, with blastbeats and edgy death riffs of all speeds with a slight but even more oppressive distortion, and this EP foreshadows the course that the new variation of the band will take after the reunion. Barry Schuyer's vocals are a simple brutal growl, holding similarities to the sound of Incantation's Craig Pillard and Frank Mullen. The keys form a very beautiful and mesmerizing accompaniment. To point out the few of album's highlights - there's simply divine interlude in "Mustardgas", unexpected folk retreat in the final of the title song, guitar-keyboard intro and solo in the track "Tragic Entanglement" (which was taken over from the demo and filtered through, being remastered slightly), and soft, melancholic intro and outro. Ah, screw the haters, the whole mini-album was a highlight. Take it. There are really almost no weak places (not even songs, places!) on the record. Everything can be listened to in one take.

So in the end we have a breakthrough work in terms of atmosphere and progressive-brutal elemental balance with an extremely successful inclusion of avant-garde elements and keyboards. The guys had just limitless potential. There is hardly any other band that definitely had the strength and deserved the highest place in the pantheon of death metal. We can only admire the old and (with a little less enthusiasm) new works of Palms and company, and cowardly scold the retired drummer Lawrence Payne, who, according to the known information, fell into the grasp of "eternal gospels" he once had been calling out for their flaws so witty... Guess, it's "Fate of a Devotee".

Originally written for https://www.darkside.ru/album/10199/