Given the extremities which the many different styles of metal tend to inhabit, it’s not uncommon to see bands from the outer reaches come together in a demented union to show us what happens when their powers are combined with only the void able to come to any sort of proper comparison. The unfathomable black depths that surround much of metal is where only the daring even think of calling home with plenty doing their damnedest to bring a sliver of that madness before our feeble minds with plenty only tapping into such potential. In a union that is as intimidating as it is effective, both Dominion of Suffering and Phobonoid put forth a dramatic display of what it means to deliver on that very potential.

Before even so much as dipping your toes into this madness, this split already gives you a great idea as to the abstract horror that awaits you within its vast dimensions of pain and chaos with that cover art painting a nigh-on immaculate depiction of what this joining of bands brings to the table. Both dabbling in the darkest of black metal with Phobonoid further enhancing their craft with more than a hefty infusion of doom, Dominion of Suffering and Phobonoid have put forth a joint effort that is the very epitome of what it means to have the void stare back into you. Dominion of Suffering primes us up with the first half of the split being a raw, visceral approach that makes sure you know precisely the kind of hell you’ve trapped yourself in. No soul is spared in the carnage that is to be found between the fiery riffs that are all cloaked in an overwhelming visage of impenetrable darkness that permeates every given moment of what the first half of the split has to offer, but it is then Phobonoid that comes around bring the terror on a deeper psychological layer. Slower and menacing in equal helpings without leaving so much as a room for air, light, or salvation to sneak in during its oppressing offensives, Phobonoid is what it means for death in the sonic form. It takes its time with its tortures, twists the knife slowly between your ribs, and is downright meticulous in its tormenting to finish the job that Dominion of Suffering began at the start of the split with Phobonoid’s finishing blows nothing short of astonishing evisceration.

On the own, both of these acts put forth hellfire the likes of which cannot be denied. Together, however, Dominion of Suffering and Phobonoid seek the last flickering of life in the universe with such destruction supreme and unavoidable by any who find themselves unfortunate to be in the wake of such overwhelming madness. Neither of these acts are strangers to the underground in any form, but it is with this impressively intimidating split that their names should be flung far and wide for all that’s brought to the table in these six tracks. As unnerving as they are effective, Dominion of Suffering and Phobonoid have left no room for error in their grand conquest.

LISTEN to “Dominion of Suffering / Phobonoid” on Bandcamp here.

LIKE Dominion of Suffering on Facebook here.

LIKE Phobonoid on Facebook here.