Phantomsmasher

Phantomsmasher | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 20, 2002)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Ipecac Recordings
• ASIN: B00006FIB6
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #137,327 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good stuff!, January 4, 2003

By 

D. Mosling (Orlando) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Phantomsmasher (Audio CD)

This is an amazing CD! Granted it's not for everyone, in fact I would say it's not for most. Imagine if Squarepusher and Napalm Death had a baby. Some times it's brutally fast and others slow and melodic. Even though it is fairly processed there is still a very human feel to the entire CD, which I know is important to some people. Always keeps you on your toes. Track 2 has my vote for one of the best songs of the year. If your looking for something new, look no further.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Plotkin does it again, July 24, 2005

By 

C. Quinn "totality denier" (County Louth, Eire) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Phantomsmasher (Audio CD)

If James Plotkin has made a bad record I haven't heard it yet. 'Phantomsmasher' is an insane grab-bag of sounds and ideas, warped, fragmented and frazzled, that in the hands of lesser talents (here he collaborates with Speedranch) would have been merely annoying. OK, my wife thinks it IS annoying, but that's another matter...

A highly disorientating listen, 'Phantomsmasher' lurches between styles and tempi at breakneck pace. Every track is a brutal collage of splintered electronics, pummelling drum machines, fizzing guitars and unearthly tortured wailing. After a while, or a couple of listens, your mind adjusts to the flux -- or just gives up resistance -- and the result is a highly exhilarating and sometimes hilarious wash of sensations. Even at its most intense, 'Phantomsmasher' retains an anarchic sense of humour, which may have a lot to do with Speedranch: the track titles give you a slight idea of that.

I guess this review isn't very helpful so far, but it's a record you have to hear for yourself. A few arbitrary reference points might be Kevin Drumm's 'Sheer Hellish Miasma' or some of Plotkin's more extreme O.L.D. material. The combination of frenetic programmed percussion and virtuoso live bass can't help but remind you of Squarepusher at times. Tracks constantly threaten to turn into prog rock, free jazz or Ultraviolence-style gabba, but then veer off into something else. And there are astonishing passages where, through the storm of noise, you can hear epic guitar riffing that wouldn't sound out of place on an Isis album (try listening to this after 'Oceanic' and it's quite obvious).

I'm not sure what kind of emotional weight 'Phantomsmasher' has, if any; but as a pure aural experience it's constantly thrilling and surprising. Genre-defying postmodern 'rock'.

2.0 out of 5 stars Limited, yet suprisingly so, January 26, 2009

By 

IRate - See all my reviews

This review is from: Phantomsmasher (Audio CD)

Dashing any ephemeral streaks of insightful work with skull-numbingly, hyper-actively repetitive drum-and-bass noise applications, this particular project yields little more then a one dimensional horror-speed gimmick, though there are just enough fleeting moments of compelling material that makes you know Plotkin can do better.