Phrenelith – Ashen Womb
Release Date: 7th February 2024
Label: Dark Descent Records / Me Saco Un Ojo Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Death Metal
FFO: Immolation, Witch Vomit, Early Tomb Mold, Early Blood Incantation, Incantation, Krypts.
Review By: Eric Wilt
On their new album Ashen Womb, Copenhagen death metal titans Phrenelith may have just created a new genre of music: apocalyptic war metal. With all the ferocity of early Morbid Angel and the anxiety-inducing atmosphere of Immolation, Phrenelith’s third album is filled with dark and doomy death metal with a blackened edge that will leave listeners with sore necks and fried nerves.
On their previous two albums, Desolate Endscape and Chimaera, Phrenelith churned out death metal of the highest order. With Ashen Womb, the band ups the ante by dialing in a menacing guitar tone that makes it sound as if the music is being broadcast from the pits of hell. Mixing death, doom, and black metal, songs like Astral Larvae, Nebulae, and Stagnated Blood show what happens when Phrenelith’s patented death metal meets the infernal atmosphere that makes the album so unnerving. Equally, evil sounding are the vocals which are gutturals of the lowest register. In addition to the seven songs on the album, Phrenelith has also added two instrumentals in the opening track, Noemata and the seventh track, Sphageion. While some bands would insert these songs to give the listener a moment to catch their breath, Phrenelith just continues to ratchet up the tension with the eerie soundscapes.
Ashen Womb is easily one of the best death metal albums that has been released this year, and with it, Phrenelith has firmly cemented their place in the top tier of the genre.
(4.5 / 5)
