Austrian band PHAL:ANGST was formed back in 2006 when members from the bands Phal and Projekt Angst decided to join forces. They have released a handful of EPs albums since then. “Black Country” is their third full length production, and was released through DIY label Bloodshed666 Records towards the end of 2014.
The band have described their music as residing somewhere on the borderlands between industrial rock and post rock, and have named artists such as Isis, Mogwai and Godflesh as some of many inspirations. Personally I think that at least as far as this album is concerned, post rock doesn’t really merit a mention as far as style is concerned, but that industrial covers the landscapes explored fairly well.
We’re basically presented with two different styles of music explored here, the second one explored on one track exclusively: Title track Black Country, which does explore a type of music that due to the minimalistic synthesizer theme used comes across as a creation comparable to Kraftwerk in terms of general sound, mood and atmosphere. When that is said, this is a more minimalistic and repetitive affair than Kraftwerk ever pondered with, and while the dystopian, alien like mood is intriguing up to a point this track eventually gets to be too stale and lacking in elements that manage to maintain attention in a good manner, not helped by lead vocals that aren’t quite of the quality one would expect from a recording artist in this day and age.
The remaining creations follow a fairly established pattern: Industrial drum patterns are paired off with dark and sometimes also a lighter toned keyboards texture of some kind, probably layered and intensified, with vocals and spoken words conveying the lyrics and the guitar gradually growing in stature from relatively delicate plucked guitars to beefier, dark toned and controlled guitar riffs in circulating patterns, at times with a melodic overlay of some sort.
This approach works fairly well on opening track Hardwire, and later on The Old has to Die and the New Must Not Be Born also enjoys an enthralling theme featuring a female backing vocalist that has a strong, positive impact. Presumably the same vocalist that also is featured on opening track Hardwire, elevating the total experience also on this composition just a bit, on that occasion also aided by an atmospheric laden, spoken voice.
Ultimately this album does get to be too repetitive for me however, lacking in any shifts in arrangement and pacing, and the few developments that are present only manage to elevate the end user experience up to a point. A case of too little explored too long, not helped by the fairly weak lead vocals.
Those with a primary interest in industrial rock would appear to be the main audience for this production, and those fond of angst-oriented synth pop might take to this production as well, even if many of the songs does have more of a beefed up guitar sound than what you’ll normally encounter in bands referenced as synth pop. The main word for this disc is industrial however, and those with an interest in the more repetitive sides of that style is the presumed main audience for this production.
My rating: 48/100
