Album review: Astrophobos “Malice of Antiquity”
Sweden’s Astrophobos gives us great melodic black metal in the Nordic tradition on the new album “Malice of Antiquity”.
The Swedish black metal trio Astrophobos reminds me quite a lot of fellow Swedes Dark Funeral and Naglfar. That’s not a bad thing at all. Astrophobos has a musical foundation which is very similar to those bands’ take on black metal. They have used that base as a starting point and carved out its own music from there. The music is brutal and dark, yet very melodic. The band combines fast and brutal chaos – with hardhitting drums, evil guitar riffs and fierce vocals – with calmer parts of beautiful but frosty tones. This is very much great melodic black metal in the Nordic tradition. Just listen to the acoustic guitar intros to the songs “The Summoning Call” and “Until the Red of Dawn”, which effectvely draw innocent and naive souls into the chaos that soon follows. Founded in 2009, Astrophobos’ new album “Malice of Antiquity” follows the band’s first EP “Arcane Secrets” (2010), the debut full-length album ”Remnants of Forgotten Horrors” (2014) and the EP ”Enthroned in Flesh” (2016). The band’s line-up consists of Micke Broman on vocals and bass and Martin Andersson and Jonas Ehlin on guitars. The new album features session drums by Giuseppe Orlando (The Foreshadowing, ex-Novembre), We also get guest vocals by Elisabetta Marchetti (Inno, ex-Riti Occulti), who adds a dimension to the terrific “Imperator Noctis”, perhaps the best track on the album.
Astrophobos “Malice of Antiquity” is out now via Triumvirate Records.
