PHRENELITH – Ashen Womb LP

Copenhagen’s PHRENELITH emerge from the darkness once again with their third and most unholy full-length offering, ASHEN WOMB. Seven sinister funeral marches, draped in bleak & blackened atmosphere: a lens into the forthcoming end of times.
A droning tone fades in, opening up a slow dirge which eases us into the apocalyptic explosion of death that will follow for the next 40 minutes.
Where guitars anxiously scale the fretboard & weave morose melodies while drums pound and smash with the force of the Chicxulub impactor.
Interspersed between the infernal, seismic, blackened stampedes are droning psychedelia & ambient noise interludes, immersing us further into the ever growing darkness. But there are also moments of overwhelming beauty, like on tracks “NEBULAE” and the eponymous “ASHEN WOMB”, where Phrenelith indulge in the repetition of their sinister melodies, layering serpentining guitars atop each other, spinning a web of desolate harmonies around the listener.
With ASHEN WOMB, Phrenelith give us the foretold sound of the apocalypse, but whether it’s a warning or a celebration is yet undecided. (KD)