PHENDRANA

PHENDRANA     “Cathexis”

By Dr. Abner Mality

If you need a break from relentless aggression and the angst of the disintegrating world we live in, I highly recommend listening to “Cathexis”. This is really beautiful music that doesn’t totally eschew heaviness. Most of this type of material usually only interests me briefly, but PHENDRANA have found the secret of truly thoughtful and haunting songcraft.

It’s the work of one Anuar Salum, a resident of Mexico City who is well versed in classical composition as well as jazz and rock techniques. With the help of some friends, he’s created “Cathexis”, a four song journey into melancholy that will probably get described as post-metal or worse yet, blackgaze. It is really neither. Think of the more solemn moments of OPETH mixed with lots of classical music and a touch of ALCEST. No, it’s not headbanging music, but when compositions are this well written and imbued with emotion, it doesn’t have to be. I know it grabbed me from the beginning.

First track “Lamento” can be considered an intro as it’s relatively short, but this is so cinematic and lush, that seems to be a disservice. It’s a wonderfully moody symphonic piece capped off with some female spoken word. The longer title track follows and now the heavy rock comes into play with an AMORPHIS-like sad guitar melody that pulls the heartstrings. It gets quiet again for a while and then alternates between soothing melodies and a harder, more metallic hook with measured aggression. There’s a wild burst of saxophone and some gentle flute mixed in…the song rises and falls like the swells of an ocean.

“Sentience” starts with an upbeat prog-metal surge and some powerful drumming. This is a great prog metal song wIth surprisingly harsh vocals that alternate with melodic female singing. The melodies are absolutely enchanting. Then the album ends with the 18 minute plus “The Effigy And The Titan” and there’s no way I can cover everything that’s going on here. The subterranean undersea growls of Daniel Droste of AHAB add a crushing heaviness, yet the track contains the mellowest moments of the record. At times, the music sounds like it is barely there at all. It’s tough to completely nail any song of this length and I’m afraid this one comes across too long, although still with moments of value.

This is a really engaging listen, especially for those looking for a break from the usual skull crushing bombast. PHENDRANA deserve a bigger audience than they are likely to find for “Cathexis”.

PHENDRANA