Back in 2017, longtime friends guitarist Isaac Crouch and drummer Edwin Mericle decided to join forces and started the Western North Carolina based indie punk rockers Fantømex. Shortly they were joined by vocalist Abigail Taylor bringing her intense diverse vocal style and powerful lyrics to the table and bassist Max Miller with his heavy basslines and creative songwriting abilities and the rest was history. The band released their debut album “Consent Agenda” in 2020 and on June 3rd 2022 they dropped their impressive sophomore EP “Terraformed” that we’ll be digging deep into right now.
It’s pretty clear from the very beginning that Fantømex are onto something different, the intense well-written riffs, the unpredictably diverse vocal delivery and dynamic structure of their opening track “Fantomcatz” laid the foundation of their unique sound. “White Hole” maintains the intensity while adding some heavy basslines and a super interesting drumline that I would listen to separately with total attention. They tuned things down a bit on “Gaslight” in terms of intensity while unleashing their fine songwriting skills. It has some well-layered and arranged melodies with a smooth progression and balanced dynamics making it my favorite off the EP. With a heavy bass intro and their signature riffing comes “Machine” marking the end of this solid EP. Their energy is still there delivering heavy intense tunes without missing on writing a good enjoyable song with each and every member playing with full force leading to a heavy outro that ended the EP on the perfect note.
“Terraformed” is an outstanding EP by Fantømex, those guys are pushing the boundaries of their punk roots and I f***ing loved it! Their unique sound and energy are present and with this sound, I believe they put a KILLER live performance. I’m totally recommending “Terraformed” to everyone I know and I suggest you do too. Looking forward to their upcoming EP “Chimera” that’ll be out next year and will be blasting this one a lot till then, cheers!
