Concert Review: Phobia at The Underground

The Underground at Evangelo’s is the best bar in the world, and Kronos Creative has never promoted a bad show. When two titans collaborate, you get this:

Torn Between Worlds opened the show. The acoustics of a cramped dive bar auger well for their fast, loud, caustic sound. They performed with all the power and fury of their namesake. Genre-wise, this band is all over the damn place. Death metal, grind, and hardcore all clash with each other, resulting in a very brutal, angry cacophony.

La Fin Absolut Du Monde sounded very dark, but not heavy. Their winsome electronic ambience was a stark contrast to the ferocity of Torn Between Worlds.  The female vocals caught me off guard, but ultimately they enhanced the atmospheric soundscapes. Although I enjoyed them immensely, I must admit that they seemed out of place at a metal show.

Dysphotic is a relatively new band from Santa Fe, boasting a line up of seasoned veterans who continue to define the local metal scene. The vocals were low-pitched, deep growls, and the  drums and riffs had speed and virtuosity to rival the best in the industry. Dare I invoke the name Cryptopsy? Dysphotic fucking shreds. With most bands, there is usually one trait that stands out as being exceptional, but this is not the case with Dysphotic. Just when I think the barbaric vocals are my favorite part, I’d get slammed by killer guitar work, or tasty licks in the percussion. It was all skull-crushing, ear-raping brutality.

Phobia was goddamn crusty. This is the kind of nasty dissonance that makes you want to beat a cripple to death with his own crutches. Their music was not only fast and evil, but also  ruthlessly loud. I could even hear those fuckers from upstairs, and judging by the deer-in-headlights expressions from passerby, I’m assuming that they heard it too. Again, the close quarters of a basement bar suited their claustrophobic music, and as such I thought that this performance was better than their previous show at Albuqurque’s Sunshine Theater.

Overall, it was a fantastic concert. Will I ever again mix Four Locos, White Russians, and IPAs all in the same night? Probably. That felt uh-may-zing. Oh yeah, and the music was pretty cool too. Four stars out of five!