For reasons unbeknownst to yours truly this long established and revered Dutch death metal band has completely passed me barring the odd glimpse into their melodic doom death I’ve heard in passing. Often seen as one of the founding bands of the Dutch death metal scene their initial releases comprised of a few demos and EPs plus two full lengths before seemingly vanishing from the scene for an extended period of about 16 years only to resurface in 2013 but with a drastically different line up that left only Tom Palms as the sole original member in the band. Usually such wholesale line-up changes are accompanied by some changes in direction though it appears the bands dense melodic doom-death is firmly intact.

Offering a relatively short piece titled ‘Bury My Heart’ the song serves to foreshadow what this album delivers throughout its entirety, mournful riffing, desolate sonic landscapes encapsulated within the bands own style of old school death metal. As the opener concludes and drifts away ‘Alternate Universe’ cruises majestically into life, lifting the albums tone slightly but also plunging into dense opacity with a slight Gothic overtone courtesy of the keyboard work. Indeed, the vocals have a slight Gothic feathering too, clean resonant toning underpinning the songs morose texturing.

Weirdly the band has decided to put two sub-minute interlude tracks side by side before returning to normal routines. The first interlude, ‘Lachrimae’ is ambient based and links with the full metal of ‘Desolate Wasteland’ as each blends into each other before ‘Destined To Be Killed’ unleashes a furious blast making the two interludes and the subsequent seem like one construction but segregated. ‘Destined To Be Killed’ is a vicious track, its blasted speed belies the relatively melodic nature of the rest of the release but when you have such sumptuous keyboard work the whole tune is elevated superbly.

Returning to slower realms ‘Pillar Of Fire’ has keyboard saturation, positioning the song within gothic deathliness as the tuneful guitar work really is a joy to listen to. Fans of old 90s doom-death akin to Paradise Lost and their ilk will enjoy what is on offer here but adding to the album’s overall texturing are some excellent clean vocal elements that transcend normal death metal. The mournful piano opening to ‘Bury My Heart Reprise’ is very similar to Amorphis during their ‘Tales Of The Thousand Lakes’ era, its emotive riffing is fused with passion as the song delves into a deep heaviness I particularly liked.

The way this band constructs songs is excellent, each one layered with musicality as a particular stand out is the epic ‘A Unity Your Messiah Pre Claimed?’ a track bristling with deft despondent hooks but supremely hefty too before the excellent riff change and increase in pace. Again old school death metal fans that liked keyboard additions will enjoy this tremendously as the song runs the gamut of deviations within the riffing and tempos.

‘Dawn of Simplicity’ is the penultimate track and like previous songs it is keyboard focused initially, adding atmosphere and ambience whenever they appear. The slow pace allows the song plenty of solemnity within the riffing but also just in how it flows. The abrupt change in riff and space is sprinkled with deft guitar work almost acting as a lead break but possessing a very heavy metal like vibe before the album closes with ‘Context Is For Kings (Stupidity And Mankind)’. I did expect the closer to continue in the same styling but instead are assaulted by a straight riff blast approach as those haunting keyboard adornments completely upraise the atmosphere making the closer extremely grandiose.

A fine fourth album from Phlebotomized, one rich in old school deathly nostalgia but brought up to date with a phenomenal production and exemplary musicianship.

(8/10 Martin Harris)

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https://phlebotomizedhhr.bandcamp.com/album/clouds-of-confusion