Phantasm: Conflict Reality 7"

Whether we like it or not, modern existence has ratcheted back up to a breakneck pace, as if the preceding few atomised years were but a figment. Thankfully, the punx have bands like Melbourne's Phantasm addressing the fragments of the past and present to help us try to make sense of this fractured reality that is often as surreal as it is intense. The rhythm section, tight and insistent, provides a mean anarcho punk-styled backbone for driving, dark contemporary hardcore riffs and some of the most memorable slathering vocals you'll hear this year. Bernie delivers in an all-too-rare tradition of punk singers who threaten to abandon the song altogether, overtaken by the compulsion to impart some ethereal knowledge of grave importance about to the listener directly - think Crucifix, Antisect and Anti-Cimex levels of being told and staying told. Listen up and learn the lessons, as disquieting as they are vital, Phantasm has in store for you.

Our take: Hardcore Victim Records brings us the debut vinyl from Melbourne, Australia’s Phantasm. While there’s something unassuming about Conflict Reality, a close listen reveals a strong record that pulls from different corners of hardcore’s history, weaving those influences into a cohesive and powerful sound. The first track, “Conflict Reality,” reminds me of early Death Side with its grandiose-sounding riffing and charging, heavy d-beat, but it’s a bit of an outlier, with the next two tracks relying more on pogo beats and jagged, Negative Approach-like riffs and changes. Through these shifts in style, Phantasm’s vocalist belts out every line with maximum force, and there’s something about the way the vocal rhythms complement the guitar riffs that makes me think of Sacrilege. It’s all pretty straightforward and hardcore until the last track, “Life of This,” which ends the record with the bass and guitars pulling away from one another, creating an interesting groove Phantasm wisely settles into for a little longer. The tones of the recording are raw, but the mix (courtesy of Hardcore Victim head honcho / Enzyme guitarist Yeap) makes the most of it, knowing just when to pull back for a little extra clarity and when to slam the needle into the red. A gratifying slice of powerful, unpretentious hardcore punk.