Band:	Phazm
Album:	Cornerstone Of The Macabre
Style:	Death 'N' Roll
Release date:	September 10, 2008
A review by:	Lucas

01. Love Me Rotten (Love Me True)
02. The Worm On The Hook
03. Damnation
04. Strange Song
05. Welcome To My Funeral
06. The Old Smell Of The Meat
07. Mucho Mojo!
08. The End
09. Necrophiliac
10. Damage Inc. [Metallica cover]
11. Adrift

Sometimes there's a band that just manages to completely slip under your radar. Whether they (and I) like it or not. One of those bands is the French Phazm, a band I should've discovered much earlier. Not only because they have connections with various big(ger) bands (Scarve, Yyrkoon, Agressor) but also because these guys are good!

It's hard to pinpoint down the exact genre Phazm dwells in. Death metal is the base element here, but there are also loads of blackish dissonant riffs and thrashy solo's. So never mind pinning it down, if you like your Death metal with a Black touch, you'll like this. Unlike their related bands Scarve and Yyrkoon, this doesn't sound modern at all. Instead, this album focuses on the old sound of Death metal with the rotten atmosphere of recently excavated corpses.

A little humour and a few oddities aren't far, either. Just listen to "Strange Song" with its entrancing drums and slide-guitar. And "Welcome To My Funeral" with its eerie lead guitar layered structure isn't your average run-of-the-mill Death metal either. "Mucho Mojo" has a Mexican Mafia feel to it with its brooding guitar and story-telling, warm vocals. The band keeps it varied and that's one of the best elements of this album. I can play unique songs like "Strange Song", "Mucho Mojo" and "Welcome To My Funeral" over and over again.

In the end, "Cornerstone Of The Macabre" is a very enjoyable and varying album. The highlights on this album are the songs that have just been mentioned, because they go so strongly against your expectations. But of course, they can only achieve that special effect with the necessary context, so whenever I want to listen to a couple of songs I find myself playing the entire album again. This is surely worth your time and money, check it out!