Blood Harvest is a pretty well known label for many and also the source of some great releases in 2021. In fact many of you already know the mode and operation of this label and can probably guess this new release is going to sound gross. Explosions is the debut EP for this Portuguese death metal band which has been released late in 2021. I have designated all December releases apart of a cusp of the year which includes them into the next one. this way even a stellar death metal EP being released on the 17th of December can be celebrated with all of the blood and lava as fitting. Phenocryst revels in the sound of subterranean death but now instead of graveyards, metaphysics or alien landscapes of ruin one is confronted with the violence of geology. Lyrical themes are always fun when engaging with a band as what they chose to base their music around can be illuminating to the way they see the world. As of writing this review, Phenocryst is the only band listed on the Metal Archives with Volcanology as a theme. While this theme sounds wild and random, the type of grinding death fits perfectly with images of pyroclastic flows and igneous fluids. It is truly music that makes me feel underground being pulverized into oblivion by emotionless phenomenon.