Koufar — Phoenicianism
So, Phoenicianism was released by the Ukrainian label Old Captain both in digital form and in the form of a digipak CD, with a total edition of 300 copies. You can purchase this release on the Bandcamp page of the label. At the time of writing this review, copies are still available for order. It is worth noting that this is a remastered edition, supplemented by a previously unreleased track- the release original appeared in 2017 on Nil By Mouth Recordings, as a C50 cassette.
The cover is a photo taken on the streets of Lebanon, possibly during some unrest. We see a close-up of a man in uniform who, with frenzy, tears the snake with his teeth. In the background, we see the building wall, with Lebanese symbols and a portrait of one of the local leaders. At the bottom of the cover is a red strip, which occupies about 1/5 of the entire cover. On the left in this strip, in a white circle, we see a symbol resembling a swastika, but with three rays, against which there is a stylized image of the Lebanese cedar. On the right is the name of the project "Koufar" and the title of the album "Phoenicianism", made with a stylized gothic font of white color. In general, the cover, in my opinion, is a bit rustic, but it has a certain energy and prepares the listener for the musical part of the album. I am not a big fan of this style of cover art, but I would call this cover a good choice for this album.
I very often write about albums in general, without singling out any composition. This time it will be the same because the album is a conceptual holistic creation. So, the album consists of seven songs with a total length of just under an hour.
The musical part of this album is one of the most brutal and uncompromising Power Electronics releases I've heard. As we know, PE is based on the sound of a synthesizer, distorted by various effects, distorted vocals, and various samples. Of course, on this album all of these are present. But this is the basis of sound and not the ultimate goal. The sound of the synthesizer is so dry and hard that it creates a feeling of the sound of a circular saw or some metal-processing machine. Rhythmic synth pulsations are generously supported by various effects so that the sound becomes close to Harsh Noise. Sometimes the sound calms down and we can hear a relatively quiet line of sound, but quickly it can switch to furious harsh noise cacophony.
It is worth noting the work with the vocals. Very often PE projects use Distortion or Delay to process vocals. Koufar does not depart from this tradition. But the aggressive shouts of Mack Rabiech Chami, who tells us about the problems of Lebanon, are not treated so aggressively. We hear a practically clean voice, which, by the way, is very similar in its timbral color to Slayer vocalist Tom Araya. I consider such these vocals another undoubted advantage to the album.
It is also worth noting that Mack Rabiech Chami quite wisely approached the use of samples. There are quite a few of them on the album, and if they are, they are very organically weaved into the composition. Basically, the samples are used in the 6th track "You Have Your Lebanon and I Have Mine" and in the 7th track "I Would Cut Off My Right Hand To Not Be Arab", which is a bonus track. By the way, this track is slightly different in sound from the rest of the album - it's more atmospheric and less aggressive. Most likely this track was recorded at another time.
So, I ’d say that for me this album was proof that in Power Electronics genre, there is a place of originality and development. So with projects such as Koufar, this genre of extreme experimental music is far from extinction. In summing-up Phoenicianism- it's a very strong and good quality work with interesting sounds and compositional structures.