Published by Alessandro Violante on September 29, 2026
What can be written about Phase Fatale we already didn’t write in the many reviews we wrote about its personal releases, those about other artists BITE records and the interview about the Fifth anniversary of its label?
Our readers certainly read about the impact BITE still has on underground techno, and about Phase Fatale releases on labels such as Hospital Productions, Ostgut Ton and many more. A couple of months ago, on 3rd July, its latest effort, entitled Off Desire, was released on Dekmantel UFO, a sublabel of Dekmantel having released music from Broken English Club, Quelza, Function x Nastia Reigel, Zohar & Nymfo, Piezo, Identified Patient and many others, very different artists sharing a distinct approach to undeground music, such as Phase Fatale itself, which sound never stopped evolving since its releases on Aufnahme+Wiedergabe, Jealous God and the aforementioned Hospital Productions.
What to expect from Off Desire is exactly what we expect from Phase Fatale, another step in its career and its evolution, here industrial and post-punk (the title track) infused intricate, dystopic and lysergic fascinating techno you can both dance to and focus on each layer, each sound and each element of it. Listening to these four tracks is a synaesthetic experience bringing the listener to one of its darkest journeys.
Avoiding unuseful track-by-track analysis, the title track must be mentioned as an example of the result of all Phase Fatale has done through the years, with those algid vocals, those post-punk sad guitars and those lysergic synth lines. In the end, the best thing that can be done here is letting music speak for itself and letting listeners live their personal experiences.
Label: Dekmantel UFO
Rating: 7,5