PHALLAX – Lex Concordia

Whether this is stating the obvious or not, it is worth mentioning that Germany has always been good at producing legendary Rock and Metal bands: Accept, Scorpions, Running Wild – this list could go on for a few lines. And now it’s time for something completely new: a Metal group called PhallaX and their fresh record Lex Concordia which is to be released very soon. Despite not sounding much like the aforementioned legends, it definitely is worth giving a go.

To scare off potential anti-fans: if one needs their Metal to sound like Judas Priest, Dio or Metallica in order to enjoy it properly, then listening to PhallaX at least right now may not be a good idea. But anyone open to new experiences that don’t necessarily meet their initial expectations may like what they hear on Lex Concordia. This album does have a lot of a Power Metal sound to it for sure, but at the same time it is rather far from the old school stuff. Some Metalcore and Alternative Rock influences can be heard here, although certainly the contents of this record should not be classified as Nu Metal. One thing that can be said for sure is that PhallaX do not sound like a rip-off of any sort.

It can be heard easily that PhallaX are a fresh band and are still working on getting their sounding right. That concerns the production mostly, especially the bass and drums: many of the songs would have got so much more power and kick to them if only they were better produced. Much of the production on Lex Concordia doesn’t sound much above a college band recording their EP by themselves – sadly. One thing that can cross the listener’s mind is that the guys at PhallaX most likely do like Savatage – the songs “Here We Stand” and “Scratch App” being the tracks number 1 and 2 respectively do have a hint of the songs off the 1993 release Edge of Thorns to them. Then comes a song with an interesting title “I Shit on Your Parade” – fans of bands like Machine Head may appreciate the main riff. Another thing that sadly needs to be pointed out is that the band needs to do something about the cogwheels in their catchiness mechanism – whether they have some sand got in between them or they just need some lubricant, the songs by Phallax could be catchier. They really could do with that. The fourth track titled “Jornsack Newton” is a good example, although the breakdown is really nice. It’s also cool to see PhallaX have included a song in their native language on this record as well which happens to be the 5th track.

And here comes another thing very much worth pointing out. The tracks number 6 and 7 are titled “Echoes” and “Hey You” – perhaps the guys at Phallax are big fans of Pink Floyd, even though their music sounds like quite anything but Pink Floyd. “Hey You”, being the number 7, has the Cowboys From Hell era Pantera kick to it – that is a very good trait. And then comes the song titled “Roots of Bitterness” which has to be one of the best tracks on this album, hands down. It basically sounds as if Death (yes, the band that gave name to Death Metal) decided to really tone it down while keeping their style at the same time. It is a great song and all instruments can be heard really distinctly. The outro is really nice too, considering how quite a few songs on this album end way too abruptly (see songs 7 and 9). Then comes the song number 10 titled “Silent Tragedy” with a bit of an atmospheric sound to it and the final composition “Rocksolution” – along with “Roots of Bitterness” it is the best track on this album. The NWOBHM sounds of Saxon and Tank was much needed. Some people say one should never judge before they fully know what they’re talking about – this does concern Lex Concordia because tracks 8 and 11 are something even die hard old school Metal fans might dig.

There is one conclusion: as much as the guys at PhallaX have quite a bit to improve in terms of production and songwriting (mostly the outros), they sure have a lot of potential to them. They’re young and the world is their oyster. Maybe in a few years they’ll go more towards Accept or Powerwolf or maybe the world is in for a new band about as entertaining as Alestorm or Gloryhammer. They sure seem to enjoy themselves and that’s just what true Rock Stars do. So as much as Lex Concordia might sound like a disappointment to keen old school Metal fans, Phallax are definitely worth keeping one’s eye on. Whether they ever make it big – time will tell.