Astrophobos is a three-piece Swedish band best described as what some of my fellow metal-journos call “Blue Cover Metal.” Ok, they’re upcoming album, Malice of Antiquity doesn’t have a blue cover, but it still follows the same musical lineage of many similar bands: The Somberlain, Far Away From the Sun, In the Forest of the Dreaming Dead, and so on.

Now, skeptical listeners out there, you may be wondering why we need yet another band playing this style. I’d like to think that this melodic and melancholic style is one of the most enduring in metal, especially because it marries the best of two worlds. You’ve got the hook-laden approach of classic heavy metal combined with the dark atmosphere of the more extreme side. And if new bands keep doing it well, then it’s all for the better.

Astrophobos play a style very much like Necrophobic’s second album, Darkside, while Mikael Broman’s vocal raspy vocal delivery is reminiscent of Sacramentum’s Nisse Karlén. The band is independently releasing their album on January 18, 2019. You can get a taste of what’s to come below on “Fire of Catharsis.”