IS PHASE SHIFTER SOMBERNESS?

I had been had a somberness impression to phase shifter. Repeat the same circuit make me bore and the sound coming from is also smoky. Chorus / Flanger may match to me, I had been thinking like this.
But one day, a friend of mine living US . send me a message.
He said that "Here comes the explosion of the power makin' something!". and he build phase shifter on his bread board and send me some sound clips. It's great. and this blow my mind. My understandings about phase shifter is absolutely wrong.