Philosophobia – The Constant Void

Philosophobia, the fear of philosophy, is also the name of a great band that I discovered in 2022. The reason for that discovery was because I reviewed their self-titled debut album, and now they have another album for our delectation. The new release is called “The Constant Void” and the line-up remains the same as the debut save one member. They have a new bass player, as Kristoffer Gildenlöw has now been replaced by Sebastian Heuckmann.

Not long after my review of their first album was published, I came across another review of it elsewhere. The reviewer classified the album as “disappointing” which just goes to show how subjective music is, because I rated it highly. I wasn’t about to allow their perspective to influence this review though and adopted my usual approach.

A short intro track simply titled ’Intro’ doesn’t give much away as to what to expect from the album. This one-minute prelude features spoken words culminating in the line “Unfortunately death is the only difficult part of life”. After this mysterious opening the band get down to business with their first single from the album, ‘King of Fools’. If that title sounds familiar, Edguy had a song with the same name. This one is in a similar vein, with both being powerful and catchy.

There is an epic pair of tracks that make up ‘The Forgotten’ with part 1 being the shorter of the two. The song seems to be about the inevitable demise of humanity, and how planet Earth will continue long after. This is summed up in the lines: “And as we speak our final prayer, will we be forgiven? Gaia knows and ignores our praise; will we be forgotten?”. Although it’s the shorter part it is still over 8 minutes long and punches above its weight. Majestic and dramatic in nature it slows to subtler moments, the first of which reminds me of Crimson Glory. Stay tuned for part II later.

I have no idea what ‘Inside His Room’ is about, maybe a personal experience. With lyrics such as “In a room down the hallway, all of the walls were painted black. Losing all dreams and memories, from inside his room, we never came back”. Make of that what you will but enjoy this strange track because musically it’s great and has a sultry guitar solo.

The mood changes to melancholic for ‘Will You Remember’ which has the feel of a love song. The choruses are powerful and catchy, and there are some spoken words.

Taking us up to roughly the halfway point timewise there’s an instrumental titled ‘F 40.8’. What can I say, imagine a very satisfying jam session and you won’t be far off. It’s heavy and metal and great stuff, nevertheless.

Some of the guitar parts in ‘Underneath Grassroots’ bring to mind “The Oubliette” by The Reticent. The vocals are different of course but it has a similar heartfelt, sombre feel to it. This is easily the mellowest song on the album. Whereas the penultimate track ‘The Fall’ has shades of Queensryche and is much heavier.

The best has been saved until last and that finale is ‘The Forgotten Part II’ – which is the longer part. It’s over 20 minutes long in fact and variety is in abundance from the off here. Beginning with a choir singing in a thunderstorm then moving into a mournful piano/vocal passage and on to many other changes. There are worthy contributions from every member of the band, notably a guitar/keyboard battle between Andreas Ballnus and Tobias Wergerber. The last five minutes or so see a reprise of some of part 1 bringing it full circle. It all ends with the final words “Humanity has failed”.

These nine tracks spanning 64 minutes provide time well spent. I’m glad this band is still going and producing quality material. I hope they have plans for a third album, because that would be very welcome indeed.

Track-list:

1. Intro
2. King of Fools
3. The Forgotten Part I
4. Inside His Room
5. Will You Remember
6. F 40.8
7. Underneath Grassroots
8. The Fall
9. The Forgotten Part II