Slayer’s scourge of the double bass-drum has used his ventures outside the band to disprove the notion that sticksmen are simple creatures, and Philm is no exception.
Opening track Train further expands the genre-straddling formula established on 2012’s debut Harmonic, as an insistent ringing riff hook is driven home by metronomic snare assault, angular guitar shapes and Gerry Nestler’s malevolent vocal, suggesting a one-song battle of the bands between thrash metal, industrial hardcore and post-punk factions.
Further cut-and-shut mixes of styles still produce plenty of addictive hooks and fire-breathing thrash tornadoes. Omniscience manages to sound like Rage Against The Machine if they had been obsessed with such mystical figures as ‘the guardian of the knights of the tomb’, dipping a toe into prog-metal territory.
But nothing here is ever quite that simple – the last track is a cute, minor-key piano ballad that wouldn’t sound out of place on Damon Albarn’s next project. WTF? Ours not to reason why, just to enjoy./o:p
