Vanhelgd - Temple of Phobos

Vanhelgd play an interesting style of death metal. On one hand, it scratches the same itch as Swedish DM bands like Entombed, Unleashed, and Grave–but on the other hand, it churns and grinds in a far more complex way than the aforementioned traditionalists. There is a melodic quality to Vanhelgd keeping things grounded and moving forward, but those same melodic riffs tend to drone on and collapse in on themselves. The band's latest album Temple of Phobos, recently released via Dark Descent, is certainly worth spending some time with. I'm still on the fence about this one, but I'm leaning toward "great."

Hails y'all