PHEAR is a Mississauga, Ontario based Power/Thrash Metal band. This is pretty much a live EP of songs from their debut release called ''Insanitarium'' back in 2014. This album was originally released back in 2017 and was re-released in February of 2020. They wanted to deliver the live show ambiance on a CD and they did a pretty good job. The production might be the weakest point of the EP, being this is an Independent band but the Live songs do sound pretty good.

PHEAR is the brainchild of former EIDOLON singer, Pat Mulock. EIDOLON were a very underrated band back in the early 2000's, a Thrash/Power Metal band that had the Drover Brothers in their lineup. I do remember them vividly on the Knuckletracks Compilations, for people that don't know, these were CDs given with the Brave Words and Bloody Knuckles magazines in the late nineties, early 2000's. I remember being blown away by Pat Mulock's voice back then and really enjoyed what his band was doing at that time. Well, most of these compilations weren't that great but you had some pretty solid bands that were discovered back then.

The sound of PHEAR is very reminiscent of EIDOLON and that is far from a bad thing. I felt they were a reincarnation of that band on some songs. Pat Mulock's does a masterful job on the live songs and the guy can belt it out with the best of the best. I was able to listen to the songs from their previous release to know them a little bit more before listening to this EP. He does a great job with the live versions and props to them. You can feel the crowd on this release and I bet they give one hell of a live show nonetheless.

The best thing of this EP is the first song, one awesome IRON MAIDEN cover. I actually never heard a cover of ''Rime of the Ancient Mariner'', it's not a song you usually hear covered actually. You see the greatest hits most of the time so this was quite a departure. They do a great job channeling IRON MAIDEN and did a fantastic job. I hadn't heard a great IRON MAIDEN cover in over 10 years, the last one I really enjoyed was a ''Flash of the Blade'' cover. This song makes the EP worthwhile, 100 times over.

PHEAR have so much potential and really reminded of bands like NEVERMORE, EIDOLON and late eighties FATES WARNING. You have a top notch singer and a great backing band, they have a lot of potential that's for sure. A band to look out for in 2020!