Icon of Phobos - Icon of Phobos (2011)

Its unfortunate that American black metal bands almost always get the fucking shaft! I suspect this common practice has already nailed Los Angeles, Californian black metalers, Icon of Phobus, down hardly since the release of their debut self titled release on Baneful Genesis Records. Perhaps it could be because this band and many other American BM bands end up on tiny labels or simply because somewhere along the way word spread that Americans can't create genuinely awesome black metal. If talking about bands like, Xasthur, Leviathan or Krieg I can definitely understand that, since those bands are truly awful, but there really is a great scene over here if people would just take the time to hunt them out and not be stubborn fucks about it all the time.

'Icon of Phobos' was released in late 2011 and was formed by former members of the bands; Dona Eis Requiem, Bestial Incarnation and Spiculum Iratus (another fantastic overlooked band). The five individuals involved create heavily orthodox and atmospherically charged black metal which brings to mind Deathspell Omega the most as well as bands like Inquisition and Ascension, though my experience is somewhat limited with those last two. The majority of the albums music presented is generally fast and blasting with most riffs being tremolo in style, though some slower slightly melodic parts can be found as well the riffage can be very dissonant and drawn out creating a bit of an atmospheric vibe. There are also some slower almost doom-ish sounding parts, a vibrant bass guitar presence, galloping fast skillfully performed commanding drums and even a few guitar solos to be heard during this seven song forty one minute album. The vocals also really instantly bring Mikko Aspa to mind, so its hard to shake off the Deathspell Omega and Clandestine Blaze similarities, but that's definitely not a bad thing in my book.

The production is also reasonably clean with all instruments being heard, though its still dirty enough to sound like a black metal record and provide the atmosphere you'd expect this sort of music to yield.

'Icon of Phobos' has much of if not all of what fans of truer black metal crave, except for the fact that its not from Norway or Sweden... which somehow means its not worth listening to. Nevertheless I'm quite pleased with this release and look forward to hearing what they come up with next.