Phase Fatale & P.E.A.R.L. - Climbing Silver
Towards the end of 2025, we were treated to a new release on Falling Ethics. Climbing Silver (2025) by Phase Fatale and the label's head, P.E.A.R.L., joined forces for a record that's quite off the beaten track for them. The two artists share a lot in common in their solo work, such as an intense, muscular sound. P.E.A.R.L. is known for his pure techno that verges on industrial, while Phase Fatale has been slowly charting a course into EBM waters, especially with the launch of his Label, Bite.
With the inception of Climbing Silver, both artists decided to reject what they're known for in favour of a more head-down kind of sound. The record rejects harshness and abrasive instrumentation in favour of a much more rounded sound. The duo incorporates hypnotic elements hidden within 16-note grooves. These polyrhythms slowly draw you further and further into the record without being too overbearing or in your face. What's shocking is how different this is from the duo's individual outputs. The artists exchange the crackling claps and speaker-busting kick drums for this muted, slow-burning affair.
The B side of the EP is the closest this record has to regular scheduled programming. The synthesisers are grittier, giving the flip side a slightly industrial feel with a subtle acid squelch throughout, but that's where the similarities end. The more bombastic styles are abandoned in favour of slow, methodical movement, as parameter shifts, delays, and reverbs gradually imbue the sound with more character. It's all about atmosphere on 'Shadow State' as the whole track feels minimal yet so dense due to these big atmospherics in the background. There's an emphasis on an unconventional rhythm, with the lead synth dancing around the kick drum. The real star of the show is this singular piano key, placed throughout most of the permanent parts. It's a continuous note that sometimes changes key, but those key changes hold so much weight and really feel like some drama is being created. As for 'The Wanting Seed', it manages to create such intensity without doing too much. It's all built around a static siren, paired fantastically with a ticking-clock motif created in the percussion. The effect is barely noticeable, sitting in the background, and it only really unveils itself as you fall deeper and deeper into the record.
The record mixes subtlety without hiding anything. Taking the title track, there are continuous builds that, at first glance, don't really go anywhere, but on subsequent listens, you notice slightly different high hats or an extra note added, which gives this sense of evolution throughout. What's done so well on the record is that they don't rely on these builds often, using them to distract the audience. Sometimes risers don't signal a change is coming, and you can nearly miss it when something's added suddenly. With 'Wipe Out The Past', it's almost as though Phase Fatale and P.E.A.R.L. had an insight into what I really love. For me, these sixteen-note grooves are elevated by their heavy dub-techno influence. The Stop there is so washed out and large that it creates such depth. That's without even mentioning the subtle rhythmic variation that they use Polyrhythmically. The combination of a pretty straightforward bassline and the swirling interplay within the Basic Channel-sounding chords lets you listen to this for hours on end.
This departure from what the artists are known for gives them such creative licence to really try new techniques and have fun branching out. Remembering that this is a deep techno record rather than something more abrasive will set you up for a good time, but for me, the surprise brought a lot of excitement. Having known the artist's previous work, I was expecting some power-electronic, adjacent, balls-to-the-wall distortion bomb, but this record gripped me in a different way. It's peak time entrancement at its finest. Big-room sounds with a switch from the conventional make it much more interesting.
Label: Falling Ethics (2025)
Phase Fatale & P.E.A.R.L. - Climbing Silver
