Together since 2013, Danish band Phrenelith have been very active on the recording front – releasing numerous demos, EPs, and two previous full-lengths before this third album Ashen Womb hits the streets. The four-piece sit firmly in the obliteration death metal mold, coming at things from more of a brutal landscape – although there’s this sinister darker atmosphere that pervades much of the songwriting. Engaging listeners through a mixture of focused arrangements as well as the occasional epic offering, you’ll get nine haunting tracks that strike hard into the underground hordes who clamor for vicious riffs, savage growls, and blasting measures next to controlled elements that pummel bodies.
The record opens with “Noemata” – a doom-like death piece under two minutes that resonates well in its lower tremolo-picking plus ambient guitar layers, setting the stage for the relentless “Astral Larvae”. Drummer Andreas Nordgreen shifts seamless between his blast beat parts and normal death metal tempos in this intense manner – almost tribal when need be, yet not quite off the rails in spots. The guitar work hits all the ferocious parameters, David and Simon Daniel unfurling some sinister rhythms, counterpoint stop/start action to make “A Husk Wrung Dry” and ominous “Stagnated Blood” standouts. When these musicians choose to expand their abilities, you get an almost ten-minute epic title cut to close the record. Between the cultural instrumental sequences next to the frenetic tremolo-fueled blasting passages, the rhythmic growls serve notice that you are in for a whirlwind of aural activities – old school death metal at its finest, stopping on a dime around 5:40 for a quieter yet no less evil twist before the aggressive pace kicks in swirling momentum like tornados ripping apart the land before them.
Even the branch-laden band logo next to the volcanic eruption on the cover speaks volumes to Phrenelith’s appeal if you dig acts like Incantation, Immolation, or Morbid Angel of old. Ashen Womb gets the job done in under 40 minutes – achieving all aspects one would expect in an ideal death metal platter.