In the early days of 2005, Augury was one of the most active bands in the Arabian metal scene in general. After releasing their demo "Temptation of Oath" and the great reviews that the demo got worldwide and response of the local scene, the band just kept giving a great action on the scene.

Muhannad Bursheh a.k.a Phexataan (Augury's Bassist) felt that he got a lot more to give, to share the world with and to compose. Therefore, he started to work on a full album for his one-man project Phex. Back in 2001. the project started as a industrial music project which turned quickly into a extreme/death metal project. With his official first album "Transfixion" which followed a couple of demos, Phex became a remark in the Jordanian metal scene.

The album that has been released in June 2005 contains a lot of powerful riffs and melodies, which make it hard to give it a specific genre. It is obvious that the album is a result of a years of listening to different genres of metal music and also years of composing metal music himself.  Transfixion is a good choice for those who are looking for mixed genres music that take the best of each one.

The album contain 10 tracks with a run time can be measured by 45 min. Phexataan has composed the entire album. The drums part were a bit difficult for the album since Phexataan didn’t find a drummer in Jordan who can play as fast, extreme and aggression as he looks for. Therefore, he programmed the drums with Mohammad al Masri (a.k.a Sirenwave).

The concept of the album is very joyful. You can hardly notice that Spirits and Devils ended and you are actually listening to Llama's Odyssey because of the amazing flow of the songs. Both first two songs at least could be described as HITS. The electronic effects at the beginning of Spirits and Devils came from the early influence of Phex's first demo "Experiment 00-01".

On the third track "Black Vision", the music became slower. Still, not a doomy one. The vocals of Phexataan are very impressive. After this "so called" slow track, time for nice headbanging came back with PHEX: A short instrumental track which is amazingly headbangable (if there is such a thing called so!)

With The Timeless Maze, the album back to his fast and extreme nature. As a bassist, Phexataan refused but to give his touch on this track. The arrangement of this song, the shifts between bass and guitars and the extremely short breaks gave you a brand new start to complete this musical pleasance. 

Blood and Thorns starts in a very different way, which gets you smashed by the heavy riff. One of the most things I adore in this record is that you can hear, feel and -the most important- enjoy the riffs.

Another 25 sec. intro takes you to The Insect War, another great instrumental track. The drums composition is very impressive –for me at least-. Moreover, it gives you what it needs for the next track "Watching Your Death".

Watching Your Death is a 9:20 min. track, which could be a long duration for an extreme metal song. Discarding that, the epic song has the elements of a success epic song: changing in riffs and tempo, clean part and -the base of any song- great music. The lake of solos in this album came from the fact that Phexataan is not a lead guitarist. Still, Watching your Death Deserve not one solo but three! Therefore, Sirenwave and Zaher Siryani (Tyrant Throne) stepped up to help their old-time friend and their band mate (Phexataan plays Bass in Tyrant Throne also). A Great song indeed.

The following track came as result of Phexataan and his cousin Basil Bursheh (Augury's Keyboardest) collaboration. A short track (2:30 min.) but a joyful one. The last track is a cover of Bolt Thrower's Powder Burns. I never been a fan of Bolt Thrower but I guess after hearing this track I will go and buy the album of this song. Great effort and very nice work.

Phex's release could be one of the very first official releases in Jordan. I like to listen, support local artists, and appreciate their efforts in making a scene. This record is definitely got a great recording quality for an independent producing. Finally, it will not be any fare to undervalue this release or even compare it to international ones or even local ones. Great effort by Phexataan and looking forward to hear new stuff from him and his bands (Tyrant Throne these days are finishing the recording of their E.P.). Great job, great music and great effort. You had better Go and buy the album, you loser!