The Phosphorous Bombs are a 5 piece band from Sydney, New South Wales, Australia who play hardcore/skatepunk. The band formed in 2014 and began releasing music the next year, here’s a rough guide to what they have released so far with some links
2015 – Chain of Command –https://thephosphorusbombs.bandcamp.com/album/chain-of-command
2016 -Barricade –https://thephosphorusbombs.bandcamp.com/album/barricade
2017- Cancers –https://thephosphorusbombs.bandcamp.com/album/cancers
2018- A Bruise –https://thephosphorusbombs.bandcamp.com/album/a-bruise
2018 -Blank States–https://thephosphorusbombs.bandcamp.com/album/blank-slates
On the 28th of November 2019, the band released a new EP titled ‘… Against You’ it was recorded and produced on the traditional lands of the Gadigal people of the Eora nation by Jay Whalley (Frenzal Rhomb, Neptune Power Federation) at The Pet Food Factory, mixed by Clem Bennett and mastered by Tim Carr. Some guest musicians played on this release …
Dave Berry – Trombone
Paul Murchison – Trumpet
Jay Whalley – Tambourine
The band released the title track ‘… Against You‘, which is also the opener on the 13th of November 2019. The song has a short runtime clocking in at ‘1:38’ in fact its the shortest track on the EP but it does serve as a good guide for what to expect from here on in. For those that are already fans the band has not made any big changes to their sound. The song kicks off hard in an expected hardcore fashion with fast distorted power chords and some nice shredding lead work while the drums hammer away. The only sign of a slow down is the pause in the vocal track with its aggressive timed outbursts … they are back!
The second track is ‘Closing On The Centre’ it has a skate punk vibe coming from the rhythm guitar but is delivered at a similar tempo to the first track. The vocals also have a more melodic vibe than the first track and the lead guitar work is more punk rock, this song has layers of style.
The next song is ‘88 Days‘ is a nicely polished piece of work that reminds me of early stuff from Suicidal Tendencies, the lead guitar shreds and The Phosphorous Bombs smash out another melodic hardcore tune, with some rather metal guitar work.
Track four ‘Past Tense‘ is a great song that leans slightly more towards melodic skatepunk. You’ll hear the usual things like distorted power chords and vocal lines like ‘whoa’ that we all like to sing along to. It’s also got some really sweet horn work by a trumpet. The lead guitar break in this track chases melody more than speed.
The next song is ‘By-product’ and it has better developed vocal hooks on display. It’s hard to pin down the sound of this band because of the way they blend hardcore and melodic skatepunk together. The lead guitar work is whaling away at times and shredding away at others.
‘Relief, empathy and compassion‘ is the second last track and it’s got strong Bad Religion vibes even though the intro consists of some very metal guitar playing. Musically it has stops and starts, a certain sound to the tone of the lead guitar which plays more melodic licks. The song also has the familiar ‘whoa’ parts and the lyrics bluntly deliver a strong message.
The final track is called ‘Too Much Of Me‘ and it is the longest track on the release, clocking in at 2:32. The song has a soft start, with the strumming of open chords on what sounds like an acoustic guitar. With clean melodic vocals. Before long the horns can be heard repeating in a well written melodic form at the end of sections as if to emphasize the rather simple open chord structure of the song. There is a well-timed pause in the song and then bam! One more round of melodically inspired hardcore music at a speedy pace.
Overall this is a great release that feels like the band challenged themselves to write and put out. Its the familiar blending of styles all polished really well. The end result is that ‘...Against You‘ is a release that I can listen to again without skipping a track, as someone who was already a fan.
The Phosphorous Bombs are Sam Harwood – Guitar, Backing Vocals
Citizen K – Lead Vocals, Acoustic Guitar
Beef – Guitar, Backing Vocals
Rodney Wallis – Bass, Backing Vocals
Chris Allison – Drums
The Phosphorus Bombs LINKS
Facebook Link https://www.facebook.com/thephosphorusbombs/
Amazon Music https://www.amazon.com/Against-You-Explicit-Phosphorus-Bombs/dp/B081K6CNZH/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?keywords=The+Phosphorus+Bombs&qid=1574901170&s=dmusic&sr=1-1
Apple Music Link https://music.apple.com/us/album/against-you/1488048074
Bandcamp Link http://thephosphorusbombs.bandcamp.com/album/against-you
CD Baby Link https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/thephosphorusbombs6
Have a crannk on Spotify and if you like it head over to one of the links and show your support to the band and scene by grabbing some merch/music and always support the scene and keep it strong \m/
