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Phobia > Cruel > Reviews
Phobia - Cruel

Phobia - Cruel. Cruelest Grind For the Soul. - 98%

xXCannibalHate666Xx, April 27th, 2006

Okay, well to start this is the first Phobia CD I've ever owned. I've heard many tracks from all of their older albums from friends who share the same interest in Grindcore. While being fond of bands like Pig Destroyer, Napalm Death, Agoraphobis Nosebleed, Leng Tch’e, Nasum, Cephalic Carnage, Origin, Regurgitate, Cretin, and the devastating Circle of Dead Children, I was instantly drawn to Phobia’s other CD’s. But I was cruising on Willowtip Records’ website cheking the news pages and I saw that Phobia’s new CD had come out. Seeing how I had just got paid I knew I was going to buy a CD. So I decided to pick up Phobia’s newest offering of steaming hot, razor-sharp Grind, “Cruel”.

The first thing that caught my attention is that Scott Hull of Pig Destroyer produced the CD. Although many people dislike Grindcore, I haven’t seen anyone who doesn’t respect Scott and not only his ability to play some of the most insane guitar licks in extreme Metal today, but also his ability to turn any CD he gets his hands on into a brutal masterpiece. Now there are 21 tracks on this bad boy so I’m afraid I cant review all of them.

Okay so the CD opens up with an eerie horror-style sample. Then it just kicks in full speed. Insane blast beast and chunky fast riffs. The vocals are extremely brutal and make you just want to pound something to dust with a blunt object. Shane Mclachlan has a wonderful ranging voice that isn’t common in Grind these days. He goes from this pure yell that is as deep as most growls, and then goes into this Pterodactyl scream that give you the image of a maniac yelling at you as you watch him dissect your body.

The Part of the CD that stuck to me the most was the drumming a guitar work. It is very different from the usual Grind style that includes mostly playing really fast and then randomly going into a slow ass breakdown. No, these guys play fast and precise and do not let up until you are screaming for help. The drums are recorded very well, which is another problem with some Grind. And the guitars play a constant fast pace. There are little solos, but the heaviness more then makes up for it. Now it seems from the credits that they did not have a bassist in this CD, in which, I like very much. As pig Destroyer demonstrated with “Terrifyer”, if you play just brutal enough, you don’t need a bassist to give you that deep undertone.

All in all, this CD gets a 98% for being flat-out, no joke, brutal as Hell! If you don’t like Grind, then why have you read this far? This CD is pure Grind all the way and will not let any Grind fan down. It’s fast. It’s heavy. And this CD will flat-out break you into bits! For fans of all things Grind, or even fans of brutal Death Metal. This Cd is no joke though. It is mean, nasty, and sick as hell. All I can really say is, “WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? GET THIS FUCKING CD!”