It’s gotta be tough being inspired by genre giants. For bands like Incantation or Autopsy, it can be hard to drink from their well without sounding like derivative, uninspired knockoffs. In the realm of brutal death, Suffocation unsurprisingly stands at the top of the corpse pile, with a sound that’s inspired offshoot after offshoot and triggered more permutations of listener-savaging than one can count. There was a period when “Suffoclone” was used as a term of mockery, and now time has looped back around to turning such a descriptor into a potential point of praise. Architectural Genocide have landed with their sophomore album Malignant Cognition, which unsurprisingly seeks to worship at the altar of the brutal death kings. Will their tribute allow them to rise to the ranks of priesthood in this church of the charnel, or relegate them to mere parish members of the profane?

Architectural Genocide overcome brutal deaths first major hurdle with an excellent sound and a clearly articulated production. With a slightly above average DR (particularly by genre standards), every instrument1 is clearly articulated, with a real shine to the drums. Nate Conner’s drum performance rides snare violations, and china fills in what sounds like a refreshingly undigital performance, while guitarists Tom Savage and Caleb Baker offer up a hodgepodge of slams and chuggy assaults which alternate between breakdowns and full-blown Suffo-isms at the drop of a hat. Vocalist Daniel Brockway, in particular, manages to share a similar register with Ricky Myers when in his higher range, adding some sense of familiarity to the proceedings. Everything is confidently delivered and competently composed.

Malignant Cognition by ARCHITECTURAL GENOCIDE

With brutal death being such a broad target to hit, various strains of DNA making their presence known is unsurprising. As already alluded too, Suffocation are the clear cornerstone, with Architectural Genocide even going so far as to kick off the album with a sample that uses the phrase “Bind, torture, kill” (“Precursor to Bloodshed.”) Occasional nods to mid-era Devourment (“Malicious Wager”) and swings to Mob Justice-era Vulvodynia (“Leave It to Cleaver”) litter Malignant Cognition, as one riff after another attempts to channel different foul spirits of savagery into one whole. In the included promo sheet, Architectural Genocide brag about distilling all the vital elements of the genre into one offering, and the sheer glut of names that can occur to anyone with a slight knowledge of the genre is telling that they’ve done their homework.

But while it’s true that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, everyone always forgets the back half of the quote: “…that mediocrity can pay to greatness.” In a world where gurgles and snare-shattering blasts are a requisite, the distinction between the goods and the greats is personality. Architectural Genocide have their greatest strength function as their biggest Achilles heel, in that they remind me of so many other bands that I find myself wishing I was listening to them instead. The snare-based drum patterns grow to be so repetitive that even Pathology might suggest toning them down a little bit, while tracks like “Malicious Wager” use a start-stop method of riffing which doesn’t get past Amputate in “intensity”, with the staccato presentation only underscoring how “fine” it is. The most interesting riffing and intense moments are all saved for the back end of the album (“Zed Requiem”, Stuffed Under Floordboards”), where Nate Connor unfurls some genuinely fun fills, and we have our first meaningful bass presence. We even get a slam worthy of slicing spines to carry us to the conclusion, ending on a high note, but also leaving one to ask where this personality has been hiding the entire time. It seems like Architectural Genocide have spent the last few years learning the compositional tricks of all these great bands, but are still struggling to cobble together the pieces into what distinguished those outfits from their hoards of imitators.

This is disappointing, because Architectural Genocide are skilled players with a good grasp of composition. But at the moment, that composition has only allowed them to ring out with the echoes of the greats, rather than sing with their own anthems of death. Nobody knocks bands anymore (usually) for sounding inspired by others, but everyone at least knows that you have to come with flair and personality, not just good emulation of style. I believe the band has the toolset to evolve past their inspirations, and I am rooting for them to do so. In the meantime, if you need a quick fix of head-bobbing gnarliness, there are plenty worse options out there.

Rating: 2.5/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Comatose Music
Website: Official Album Bandcamp
Releases Worldwide: January 16th, 2025

Symphobia – Hideously Traumatic Review

By Alekhines Gun

Another day, another fresh debut by a slab of young hopefuls. Today’s offering comes by way of Indonesia in the form of trio Symphobia, dropping their first LP Hideously Traumatic after a sole self-titled demo the year before. At a concise two songs and sporting some charmingly ghoulish artwork, that demo was a vile little slab of promising violence, which leaned more into the modern slam trappings of Submerged than the usual brutal death proper Indonesia is known for. No member turnover and a short gap between releases imply a band with a musical vision and an eagerness to slot themselves into the next generation of woe-bringers; do they offer enough to get you back to therapy?

Symphobia have crafted a monument to brutal death of all varieties and walks of life. Trimming down the more overt slam clichés in the production of their demo (particularly the outlandish ping-pong snare) allows for a more matured1 take, walking a tightrope between solid deathly compositions and neanderthalic bludgeoning. Vocalist Jossi Bima does a dead ringer of an Angel Ochoa impression, but a talent for vocal phrasing (and vocal silence) means he actually adds to the percussive oomph of the riffs. (“Scattered”, “Convulsively”) Humam Aliy is a beast on the drums, working a limited set of ingredients into a well-concocted aural meal, with excellently placed sixteenth-note fills and masterfully selected double bass to give the illusion of dynamics and pacing even as the whole of the album never really lets up. The bass2 consistently makes itself felt with shreddage and twangy highlights, adding girth to an absolute smorgasbord of riffs.

Much like waves add texture to an otherwise flat and bland ocean, Hideously Truamatic offers a sense of the nuanced differences in brutal death strains of DNA to add personality to what threatens to be an overly homogenous listen. Do you like Misery Index? “Convulsively” has you covered. Do you think War of Attrition is the best Dying Fetus album?3 “Heinous” sports a riff worthy of a lost B-side from that era. The fingerprints of Pathology, Suffocation, Internal Bleeding, modern Pyrexia, and Cephalotripsy permeate the album, with the glue from highlight to highlight running through the eternal assault of …And Time Begins era Decrepit Birth. While Symphobia begin in familiar form, each time you think you’ve heard the best the album has to offer, the next song manages to come out swinging with a steel chair to top whatever offensive groove or thunderous breakdown came before it. Dodik Bhre offers up one riff-craft lesson after another, with a surprising emphasis on the occasional trebly runs instead of all-bass-all-bottom-end tropes. Songs like “Scattered” and “Abominable” stretch beyond the typical haze of blast beats and powerchord abuse, touching on the most straightforward moments of Defeated Sanity while lurching into a Disgorge-ian sense of mercilessness.

The only negative on such a balls-out assault of this caliber is a common one: the shadow of ones peers. Symphobia have grasped the ingredients of what makes all these other bands great, and distilled their essence into a blender of an album where the listener is tossed in to get slapped in the face with one meaty chunk after another. However, Hideously Traumatic comes across as a highlight reel of various stylings without forming into a cohesive identity for the band themselves. This is a love letter to the foulest and most pit-inducing of aural violence, and the letter is written in excellent handwriting and high-quality paper. I believe the best is yet to come, however, and if they can master the art of wielding their influences into a distinct final offering rather than being a mega-high grade tribute band, they will be ready to drop a slab of carnage to stand alongside the Brodiquins and Devourments of the world.

Just when I thought I was done with brutal death for a bit, Symphobia came out of nowhere with hammers and chainsaws to take my already abused ears to even more dire straits. Indonesia can be proud of its newest offspring, which continues to solidify the country’s reputation for a flourishing scene. That Hideously Traumatic reminds greatly of genre giants is hardly the worst flaw in the world. For now, seekers of euphoria-inducing savagery should find a high worthy of their time, with some truly traumatic moments indeed.

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Comatose Music
Websites: Official Facebook | Album Bandcamp
Releases Worldwide: July 11th, 2025

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