Phragments are a Slovakian project, consisting of Matej, who does the music, and Sonic(k), who does the videos – however, since there’s aren’t any videos on this CD, this is effectively a solo release. Maybe next time we could have a video as well? The Burning World (no relation to the Swans album of the same name) is Phragments’ fifth release, and their first for Israeli label The Eastern Front, all their previous albums having been issued by their own label Construct.Destroy.Collective.

Seven tracks add up to 44 minutes of playing time, and heavily atmospheric martial industrial is the order of the day here – largely instrumental, although the tracks ‘Antichristos’ and ‘La Marche Des Machines’ feature heavily distorted, mechanistic vocals, and the album as a whole makes extensive use of low, brooding orchestral strings, synth-pad percussion, military snare drum and ambient atmospherics. ‘Song For The Burning World’, as the title would suggest, has a post-apocalyptic, scorched-earth elegiac feel, with looped industrial sounds overlaid with funeral orchestra and drums. The closest comparison point for Phragments’ music would be various bands associated with  the Cold Meat Industry label, bands like Raison d’Être, Sophia, Puissance, In Slaughter Natives and perhaps especially The Protagonist. There’s a highly cinematic, imagistic quality to Phragments which really reminds me of The Protagonist, and is one reason why it would have been good to have some kind of visual accompaniment to this music. Nevertheless, this is a worthy addition to the martial industrial genre, and well worth checking out if you’re partial to the aforementioned bands.

The Burning World comes in a rather swanky oversized glossy card gatefold sleeve, and it’s a limited edition of 1000.  

www.theeasternfront.org

www.myspace.com/theeasternfront 

www.myspace.com/phragmentsindustrial