This offering by French black metal foursome PHAZM is kind of a concept album about trees rebelling against mankind. No, not an allegorical tale like "The Trees" by RUSH, it's quite literally about trees versus people. I don't know if they were trying to make some statement about pollution and the environment, but judging from the crude cover art (depicting trees raping, disemboweling and beheading humans) and groan-inducing lines like "The Ent Is Near" my guess is this is all intended as good, campy horror. Musically it's a mix between early BATHORY and ENTOMBED's death 'n roll tendencies and it's a combination that works quite well. Songs like "What A Wonderful Death" and "Vicious Seed" with their blastbeat shuffle rhythms are amazingly catchy for such a brutal record.

However, even if you're into extreme metal this is not an album for everyone. The production is very raw and unpolished, the vocals are more growl than grunt and some of the fast bits border on the chaotic, but personally I think that's all part of this record's appeal. Besides that I think this is also a truly fun record. Yes, that's right I said FUN!! If you think black metal and the F-word don't mix go back to putting on your corpsepaint and setting fire to churches or whatever but I'm one of those people who listens to this kind of music for my enjoyment. And there's a lot to enjoy on this record. Besides their own material, which on the whole is pretty strong, there's also a pretty cool uptempo version of MOTÖRHEAD's "Dogs" and a bonus CD-rom video clip.

- Van Hoften

OFFICIAL SITE: www.truephazm.com

MP3 SOUND SCRAP: What a Wonderful Death

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