ALGOPHOBIA

"Algophobia" is the self-titled debut full-length studio album by Italian technical/progressive death metal act Algophobia. The album was released through Pargan Music in 1997. Algophobia was formed under the Nemesis monicker in 1992 but changed their name to Algophobia in 1994. This is so far their only full-length release.

Algophobia play a technical/progressive death metal style influenced by artists like Atheist, Cynic, Pestilence, and their fellow countrymen in Sadist. The music features tempo- and time signature changes, aggressive snarling vocals, busy bass playing and jazzy soloing. Algophobia are well playing and the music is quite intriguing but seldom original when compared to the music of their influences. Out of the above mentioned influences they remind me the most of Sadist.

"Algophobia" is overall a pretty great debut release by Algophobia, despite not being that unique sounding. Had they stayed together they might have come up with a more original sound down the road. Because that´s what they lack here to evelate them from good to great. The musicianship is strong, the sound production relatively well sounding, and the songwriting pretty solid, but that´s about it. The album should however still appeal to fans of the 90s technical/progressive death metal sound. Just don´t expect the music to be as unique sounding as those who inspired it. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.