The Mystery Lights « Purgatory »

#nowplaying #TheMysteryLights #purgatory

Sometimes an album comes around ye olde promo pit that looks and smells familiar, but plays like something else entirely. Today’s entry into the “what the heck am I actually listening to?” hall of infamy is Phasma’s Purgatory. The third record from the Greek/US duo, and the first carried by a label—our beloved Transcending Obscurity Records—Purgatory continually subverted every expectation I had. In doing so, it became one of my biggest pleasant surprises in recent memory.

While early Phasma works boasted a songwriting style and sound that evoked a grotesque Whitechapel/Vampire Squid lovechild, Purgatory is a charred and venomous affair of only a tenuous relation to that concoction, and all the better for it. Conjuring a vision where Vimur, Harms Way, and Crypts of Despair’s first two albums merged into one mangled mass, Purgatory writhes and slithers through an unholy collection of brutal riffs, immolating tremolo flares, and swaggering grooves. While Phasma’s vocal approach largely carries over from early works, pairing a guttural roar with piercing screeches, but minimizing previously prevalent items like subterranean gurgles and glass-shattering squeals, it takes on an altogether more intimidating character here. Instead of showing off the full range of technical skills and range as this unit had to prove on their self-titled debut, Phasma took Purgatory as an opportunity to be as mean and concise as possible.

Purgatory by PHASMA

Simplifying their song structures, doubling down on memorable hooks, and restricting technical expositions to a minimum helped Phasma achieve their goal, resulting in a work that feels genuinely terrifying. Opening duo “I” and early highlight “II” prove this within thirty seconds of their introduction, but also create a delightful deviation from the usual songwriting tricks I expect from one phrase to another. For example, “I” makes me think a huge breakdown is about to drop right at the start, only to blast into the shadowed iciness of black metal, then dive seamlessly into a gym-ready hardcore groove. Subverting my expectations becomes a regular occurrence in Purgatory. “II,” “III,” and “VI” all venture deeper into doom-laden dungeons than I would’ve ever anticipated from a record as evil and high-energy as this. Harmonized melodies and layered guitar pyrotechnics only enhance this effect when things transition between paces and moods in a snap (“II”). By thusly offsetting their stripped-down writing with constant fiery twists and gnarly turns, Phasma crafted a remarkably exciting and rich experience that is an absolute joy to experience over and over again.

Despite its truncated 27-minute runtime, Purgatory burgeons with invigorating ideas all meticulously arranged, but initial spins suffer at the hands of a production of unforgiving loudness. “IV” in particular challenged my ability to appreciate the fantastic lead-into-chug-triplets and Vampire Squid riffs that bulge out from densely packed bass rumbles and glassy cymbals, in no small part because everything is so in-your-face as to flatten entirely. “V” feels a similar impact, though an eerie, bass-driven atmospheric break and subsequent Atrae Bilis-esque bridge briefly alleviates that effect. Understanding that the intended purpose of Purgatory is to oppress and destroy, a little more headroom in the mix and master would’ve allowed Phasma to hit harder and better highlight the myriad clever details distributed throughout.

Thankfully, the production isn’t so ruinous as to make my experience with Purgatory anything less than a delightful treat. As I spent more time with it, I loved it more, craved it regularly, and found additional moments to take home. Memorable beyond what I anticipated, and more engaging than I dared hope, Purgatory is a resounding success in all areas other than engineering. In some circles, that one weakness won’t matter much. In the end, it didn’t matter much to me either, such is the strength of Phasma’s songwriting.1 This is one trip to limbo you won’t want to miss!



Rating: Great!
DR: 5 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Transcending Obscurity Records
Websites: phasmaproject.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/PhasmaProject
Releases Worldwide: February 20th, 2026

Dante and Virgil at the gates of Purgatory, and the Proud carrying heavy stones (1444–1450), from Divine Comedy.

Source: British Library

https://pdimagearchive.org/images/febe7472-fa27-4f4c-9e2f-4bc7cbcf3624

#medieval #stones #dante #birds #purgatory #rocks #carrying #gates #christianity #art #publicdomain

Quote of the day, 15 November: St. Teresa of Avila

Now that I have begun to speak of some visions of the dead, I want to mention certain happenings in which the Lord, in this regard, was pleased that I see some souls. I shall mention only a few so as to be brief and because knowing about them isn’t necessary; I mean for anyone’s benefit.

I was told that someone who had been our provincial was dead (although when he died, he was in another province). I had had some dealings with him and was indebted to him for some good deeds. He was a person of many virtues. As soon as I learned he was dead, I felt much disturbance because I feared for his salvation, in that he had been a superior for twenty years.

Being a superior is something I am indeed very afraid of, since I think having souls in one’s charge involves a lot of danger; with much anxiety, I went to an oratory. I offered up for him all the good I had done in my life, which must in fact amount to little, and so I asked the Lord to supply from His own merits what was necessary for that soul to be freed from purgatory.

While beseeching the Lord for this as best I could, it seemed to me that person came out from the depths of the earth at my right side and that I saw him ascend to heaven with the greatest happiness. He had been well advanced in years, but I saw him as only about thirty, or even less I think, and his countenance was resplendent.

This vision passed very quickly, but I was so extremely consoled that his death could never cause me any more sorrow, although I saw persons who were filled with grief over his loss since he had been generally highly esteemed.

The consolation my soul experienced was so great, I couldn’t worry about him, nor could I doubt that it was a vision; I mean that it was not an illusion. No more than fifteen days had passed since his death. However, I didn’t neglect to get others to pray for him and to pray myself, except that I couldn’t do so with the eagerness I would have if I hadn’t seen this vision.

When the Lord shows some persons to me in this way and afterward I desire to pray for them to His Majesty, it seems to me, without my being able to help it, that doing so is like giving alms to the rich. Afterward, I learned—for he died quite far from here—of the death the Lord had given him; it was so greatly edifying, because of the knowledge, tears, and humility with which he died, that it left everyone amazed.

One of the nuns in the house who had been a great servant of God had been dead a little more than a day and a half. A nun was reciting a reading in the choir from the Office of the Dead, which was being said for the departed soul, and I was standing so as to recite the verse with her.

When she was half through the reading, I saw the nun who had died; it seemed to me her soul had come out at my right side just as in the previous case and was going to heaven. This was not an imaginative vision as was the former one, but like the others I mentioned, yet this kind is as certain as the imaginative visions.

Eighteen or twenty years ago, another nun died in the house I was in. She had always been sick and been a very good servant of God, devoted to her choir duties and most virtuous. I thought certainly she would not enter purgatory, because the illnesses she had suffered were many, and that she would have a surplus of merits. Four hours after her death, while reciting the hours of the Office before her burial, I understood she departed from purgatory and went to heaven.

While at a college of the Society of Jesus, experiencing the great trials in soul and body, I said I sometimes go through, I was in such a state that I think I wasn’t even able to receive a good thought. That night, a Brother from the Society died in that house, and while I was praying for him as I could and hearing Mass said for him by another Father of the Society, a deep recollection came over me; I saw him ascend to heaven in great glory, and the Lord along with him. By special favor, I understood that it was His Majesty going with him.

Another friar of our order, a truly very good friar, was seriously ill; while I was at Mass, I became recollected and saw that he was dead and that he ascended to heaven without entering purgatory. He died at the hour I saw him, according to what I learned later. I was amazed he hadn’t entered purgatory.

I understood that since he was a friar who had observed his vows well, the bulls of the order about not entering purgatory were beneficial to him. I don’t know why I came to understand this. It seems to me it must have been because being a friar doesn’t consist in the habit—I mean in wearing it—but in enjoying the state of higher perfection, which is what it means to be a friar

Saint Teresa of Avila

The Book of Her Life, ch. 38, nos. 26–31

Teresa of Avila, St 1985, The Collected Works of St. Teresa of Avila, Kavanaugh, K & Rodriguez, O (trans.), ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: Fresco on the ceiling of the Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Marostica, Italy. Image credit: isaac74 / Adobe Stock (Asset ID#: 139375631).

#OfficeOfTheDead #purgatory #souls #StTeresaOfAvila #visions

As a Medium and an Episcopalian I can't help but wonder if Purgatory isn't just Earth. I see so many spirits here it's hard not to think about...

#episcopalian #catholic #purgatory #deathworker

Quote of the day, 2 November: St. Teresa of Avila

Oh, God help me! Lord, how You afflict Your lovers! But everything is small in comparison with what You give them afterward. It’s natural that what is worth much costs much.

Moreover, if the suffering is to purify this soul so that it might enter the seventh dwelling place—just as those who will enter heaven must be cleansed in purgatory—it is as small as a drop of water in the sea.

Furthermore, in spite of all this torment and affliction, which cannot be surpassed, I believe, by any earthly afflictions (for this person had suffered many bodily as well as spiritual pains, but they all seemed nothing in comparison with this suffering), the soul feels that the pain is precious; so precious—it understands very well—that one could not deserve it.

However, this awareness is not of a kind that alleviates the suffering in any way. But with this knowledge the soul suffers the pain very willingly and would suffer it all its life, if God were to be thereby served; although the soul would not then die once but be always dying, for truly the suffering is no less than death.

Saint Teresa of Avila

The Interior Castle, Sixth Mansion, ch. 11, no. 6

Teresa of Avila, St 1985, The Collected Works of St. Teresa of Avila, Kavanaugh, K & Rodriguez, O (trans.), ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: This detailed image of Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s renowned marble sculpture of Saint Teresa in ecstasy comes from the files of our Discalced Carmelite friars. The Discalced Carmelites are the guardians of the Church of Santa Maria della Vittoria (St. Mary of Victory), where the Cornaro Chapel shelters this precious artwork. You can learn more about Bernini’s masterpiece at our liturgy for the feast day of the Transverberation of the Heart of St. Teresa of Jesus Our Mother.

#death #purgatory #souls #StTeresaOfAvila #suffering