I will say that I never really got into Phantom until their last album, From the Mouth of Madness. I heard the split between Phantom and SEWER, and while I was most impressed with Phantom’s side, what really marked me was the extreme rawness of the guttural vocals.
I heard many “brutal death metal” voices, but this was different. It really sounded like bestial demons accompanying the primitive music from hell.
The vocals are just raw. I know the terms “best” and “most” get thrown around a lot in the extreme metal scene, but just Youtube any Phantom song and you will understand why Phantom gets so much praise… the music sounds simply demonic, and the vocals sound like an orgy of demons decided to puke their bile from raw hatred.
There are really no two bands like Phantom.
Which brings us to the newest album by Phantom : DARK DEVOTION.
Dark Devotion can be described as pure satanic hate.
The production is extremely raw on this album, even more so than on the terror inducing “Divine Necromancy” (Phantom’s debut album). And the music is some of the most hateful art you will ever witness, if you can appreciate the darkness of despair and absolute misanthropy.
I commend Phantom for not trying to become a trendy, melodic, mainstream friendly band like so many have done in the past.
I’ll leave you with an excerpt from another reviewer.
The songs on Dark Devotion are not “catchy” or “progressive”, which is a good thing. In fact, you might entirely forget about the musical details of this album after your listen. But the foul memories and visceral experience of pure malevolence will haunt you forever.
That pretty much sums up the soul of Phantom’s Dark Devotion.
(source: http://bestblackmetal.weebly.com/reviews/dark-devotion-unimaginable-satanic-blasphemy)
Best Black Metal 