PHAL:ANGST
Industrial (post-) Rockband aus Wien im exklusiven Interview
über Dystopien, Patrik Pulsingers Qualitäten,
und die Freigabe aller Drogen.
Clips: Hardwire, On the Run

Phal:Angst sind eine Wiener Band, die sich einer Melange aus düsteren Postrock und ebenso dunklem elektrophilen Industrial- und EBM-Klängen verschrieben hat. Ein Sound, der der krasse Gegenentwurf zur weinseligen Stimmung in Grinzings Schenken ist und auch wenig mit einem sonnigen Badetag im Krapfenwaldlbad zu tun hat. Das, was die vier Österreicher, die unter den kryptische Pseudonymen Ph, AL, : und Angst das Humanoide weitgehend aus der Wahrnehmung des Hörers heraushalten, auf ihrem vierten Album anbieten, spiegelt die drückende Stimmung wider, die sich einstellt, wenn tagelanger Nebel die Stadt einhüllt und die stark verunreinigte Nebelluft das Wohlbefinden der Menschen beeinträchtig.

On Friday, Vienna-based industrial post-rock outfit Phal:Angst will release their new album Phase IV, via Bloodshed666. And today, before the album officially is released, Treble is premiering the full stream of the album. It’s a dark and eerie set of music, balancing heavy electronic elements with elegant and haunting melodies, sometimes with spoken-word passages and sometimes with proper vocals, but always with more than their share of apocalyptic dread. The music sometimes feels like a hybrid of Godspeed You! Black Emperor’s bleak soundscapes and Locrian’s dystopian constructs, and it’s an overwhelming sound to be sure, but a highly compelling one. The album also features two remixes including one by JK Flesh (a.k.a. Justin Broadrick of Godflesh) and one by Will Brooks, better known as Dälek. It’s a perfectly fitting sound for this time of year and perhaps this moment in history.

I  wonder if the group’s name was inspired from suddenly realising the curry they had eaten was too hot hmmm. Anyway joking aside Phal:Angst hail from Vienna and play a mix of industrial and post rock which is very much dystopian and fuelled by thoughts of the inevitable end of the world. I read the one sheet on this their fourth album having never heard of them before and was totally drawn to it due to mentions of them taking inspiration from the likes of Throbbing Gristle, Coil, Nurse With Wound, soundtrack artists and the likes of Neurosis, Earth And Mogwai. Although there are certainly nods of the hat to such artists, along the way of this album there were plenty more identifiers and this despite long running time was an album I found myself quickly immersed in and indeed getting to grips with; or at least I think I have.

Phal:Angst haben ihren Sound gefunden: »Phase IV« bewegt sich zwischen Postrock, Drone, Ambient und elektronischen Soundscapes. Als Add-on gibt es Remixe von Will Brooks (Dälek) und Justin Broadrick (Jesu, Godflesh, Techno Animal).

Mit »Black Country« fanden Phal:Angst 2014 ihren ganz speziellen Sound. Was 2006 als Zusammenschluss der Bands Phal und Projekt Angst begonnen hatte, wurde damit endgültig zu einem Ganzen. Die eher »roheren« Industrial-Klänge ließ man zugunsten einer sehr stimmigen Mixtur aus Postrock, Drone, Ambient und elektronischen Soundscapes hinter sich.

PHAL:ANGST veröffentlichen mit “Phase VI” bezeichnender Weise auch ihr viertes Album, dass sich zwischen elektroniklastigem Industrial und Post Rock ansiedelt und sich somit als Dark Art Rock zusammenfassen lässt. Bei ihrem Opener “On The Run” werden dem elektrischen Equipment einzelne Klänge entlockt bis eine Radioansage die beklemmende Geräuschkulisse durchbricht. Die dennoch ruhige Atmosphäre verleiht dem Song eine düstere Trostlosigkeit.

PHAL:ANGST sind nach dem äußerst gut aufgenommenem “Black Country” zurück mit ihrem vierten Album, praktischerweise “Phase IV” betitelt.

“Industrial / EBM / Synth-Wave Freunde verwirrt die analoge Gitarre, Post-Rock Anhänger suchen das Schlagzeug.”

Ich bin der festen Überzeugung, dass PHAL:ANGST sich bei weitem nicht so sehr zwischen diverse Stühle setzen, wie sie es meinen. Die Band, jetzt neu mit DJ LADY M / THE BASSENGER am Bass, zaubert wieder Soundlandschaften hervor, wie es in Österreich kaum jemand zu erschaffen imstande ist. Natürlich gibt es Einflüsse, der Metaller in mir hört immer wieder “Space Dye Vest” (grenzgeniale Ballade von DREAM THEATER, Anm. d. Lekt.) , der Kondensatorbastler möglicherweise alten Dark Wave, der Post-Rocker die nicht ganz so deftigen Vertreter des Genres.

Austrian group Phal:Angst are somewhere in between industrial and post-rock, constructing 10-minute epics filled with gritty guitars, creeping tempos, and cinematic overtones. The film dialogue samples strewn throughout tracks like opener “On the Run” bring to mind older Godspeed You! Black Emperor, but this group generally sticks to evenly paced electronic tempos rather than lengthy crescendos. They also alternate the samples with original vocals, which are sinister and sometimes menacing, but not overly aggressive. The music itself similarly never gets into aggro overdrive; rather, it maintains a consistent mood while evolving through different atmospheric elements, incorporating instruments such as harp and metallophone along with the guitars and electronics. “Despair II” is somewhat appropriately the most emotionally devastating track, as well as the longest. This feeling of hopelessness and pointlessness is further expanded upon with “They Won’t Have to Burn the Books When Noone Reads Them Anyway”. The album ends with 2 significantly shorter remixes, the first from Will Brooks (Dälek), and the second from Justin Broadrick. Both keep within the mood of the originals, but Broadrick’s mix adds a bit more bass pressure.

PHAL:ANGST: Cvlt Nation Premieres Eerie “The Books (JK Flesh Remix)” Video From Viennese Industrial Post-Rock Unit; Phase IV Release Day Nears + Preorders Available

Phase IV is the impending new full-length from Vienna-based industrial post-rock unit. PHAL:ANGST. Recorded and co-produced by Alexandr Vatagin (Valeot Records, Slon, Tupolev, Port Royal, Werner Kitzmüller) and mastered by New York-based acclaimed sound engineer Alex Psaroudakis, Phase IV includes two remixes: “Despair II” remixed by Will Brooks aka MC Dälek of Dälek and “The Books,” remixed by industrial metal pioneer JK Flesh aka Justin Broadrick of Godflesh.

In advance of its release later this month, Cvlt Nation is pleased to debut the visual accompaniment to “The Books (JK Flesh Remix)” alongside a stream of the original track, “They Won’t Have To Burn The Books When Noone Reads Them Anyway.”

Issues the band, “The Sound Of Music is a movie that did not inspire PHAL:ANGST‘s latest video, although the landscapes you see were filmed in Austria. Forget everything you think you know about Austrian music and culture. This will take you on a bad trip in crusty black and white where everything is revolving, stumbling, tilting, gliding.”

Adds Cvlt Nation, “I feel broken inside… I feel fragile inside… I feel anger in my blood! I feel the emotional sonic wave that is the new song from PHAL:ANGST  called ‘The Books,’ remixed by JK Flesh. This song has so many textures, it’s almost too hard to put into words.”

Phal:Angst

So I hear elements of Post Industrial, Electronica, Metal , Post Punk and Post Rock in Phal:Angst how did the band come to be?

In the early 2000s, Philipp and Alfred had an Industrial-Punk band called “Phal”. In 2006, we decided to join forces with Dion’s Ambient solo-project “Projekt Angst” – hence the name. Shortly afterwards, we decided to add a bassplayer, Kev, who played with us until 2015, when he was replaced by Julia.