By: Charlie Butler
Album Type: Full Length
Date Released: 13/05/2016
Label: Negative Fun Records
Phantom Glue make a racket that feels distant and timeless, yet
crushingly fierce and contemporary. Their potent blend of High on Fire-style
aggressive riffage, filtered through a grimy noise rock lens is a powerful
proposition, delivered with the gut-punching crunch of Mastodon’s “Remission”. “776” is an absorbing voyage into an
intoxicating fantasy world. Phantom Glue have created a beast of an album,
equal part brains and brawn and always dangerous.
“776” CD//DD track listing:
1).
Ion Cloud
2).
Hundred Hand
3).
Somatic
4).
A Worker-less Mill
5).
Suttungr
6).
Hocheims War
7).
God Is Dead
The Review:
History lessons have never sounded better than “776”, the new LP from Boston’s Phantom Glue. Based around vocalist/guitarist Matt Oakes’
lyrical vision of a mythological United States in the year 776. The band create
a musical backdrop equal to Oakes’ wild imagination.
Phantom Glue
make a racket that feels distant and timeless, yet crushingly fierce and contemporary.
Their potent blend of High on Fire-style
aggressive riffage, filtered through a grimy noise rock lens is a powerful
proposition, delivered with the gut-punching crunch of Mastodon’s
“Remission”. The band subtly wraps this onslaught in a
subtle psychedelic haze, bringing a real sense of scale and mystery to the
album without blunting their serrated attack. “Ion Cloud” and “Somatic”
provide perfect encapsulations of this approach while other influences make
their presence felt elsewhere.
“Suttungr”
is the album’s lengthiest track, lumbering into life with a lethargic, Melvins gait before gathering pace to a heady finale topped
with a wired, exploratory solo. Bursts of raw thrash, reminiscent of Saviours, spring forth unexpectedly, particularly effective
at the frenzied climax of “Hocheims War”.
The rippling psychedelic undercurrents of “776”
bubble to the surface for “Gog Is Dead”,
bringing the spacey sounds hinted at earlier to the fore to end the album on a
suitably epic and expansive note.
“776”
is an absorbing voyage into an intoxicating fantasy world. Phantom Glue
have created a beast of an album, equal part brains and brawn and always dangerous.
“776”
is available here
