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Obscura: Cosmogenesis
03/11/11 || InquisitorGeneralis
Since Necrophagist, and by Necrophagist I meant “Douchehammad” as Lord K so lovingly refers to the band’s frontman and creative force, seem to be doing jack fucking shit in the album-making department it falls to Obscura to provide us slobbering metaltards with our technical death metal fix. I gave pretty decent marks to their most recent release, Omnivium and our resident SweFinnTroll of Northern Darkness CadenZ looked favorably upon their excellent debut Retribution. I am a big fan of both of those bookend records, but the middle child “Cosmogenesis” has not completely won me over. It features impressive musicianship and technical skill, but lacks the old-school feel that made “Retribution” successful and/or the better and more fluid songwriting of “Omnivium”. On each of Obscura’s other two albums, there was one song that reeled me and made me want to like the record more. Those songs were “Ocean Gateways” and “Sentiment” respectively. “Cosmopenises” lacks that one tasty piece of bait to hook this hairy, meaty fish in.
Maybe I am being a bit harsh, but it seems clear to me that with a completed retooled line-up behind him, Mr. Kummerer was trying to show off his new and improved dick-size. While the skill of the band and the wankery factor is certainly increased from “Retribution”, the memorability and quality of the songs has not, with the exception of “Choir of spirits” and “Incarnated”. I enjoy those two tracks quite a bit because they ease up on the insanity and go for a little groove. “Anticosmic overload” is a good opener too. I like my techdeath to still have strong groove roots in the metal soil, and Obscura’s other albums do a better job with that than “Cosmogenesis”. Other than those songs I mentioned, most of “Cosmogenesis” is a spastic pile of guitar solos, blasts, and slightly overused vocals. You almost being to wonder if Obscura is to fucken good. What a problem to have, right?
Again, the skill of the band is almost unbelievable. It is just clear they are trying to hard. Drummer Hans Grossmann (maybe you heard him before on this classic album) especially shines with insanely precise blasting and frenetic footwork that is up there with any of the other giants in the genre like George Kollias or Mike Smith. Kummerer is no slouch on the guitars either, and it is clear that he sleeps with a big pile of Death CD’s next to his bed. There are no production issues here at all; the sound is top notch. I know this album is supposed to be about space and shit, but how many songs need to be about spheres? “Noospheres”, “Desolate Spheres”, “Anal spheres”, “Testicular spheres”…the list goes on and on. The lyrically content is definitely out there, and tries to be all smart and shit. I dig it. It beats songs about goat penises and demonic orgies. Or Natalie Merchant. Fuck that whiny bitch. The album cover is neato though; very eye-catching and relevant to all the astral shit that “Cosmogenesis” is soaked in.
I like Obscura a lot, and I am pretty fucken excited to see them in concert here in the states in December; I am just not in love with “Cosmogenesis”. I consistently chose to listen to Obscura’s other records, with the exception of “Choir of spirits” which really is a damn fine track. However, the band is definitely moving in the right direction. I think I am a bit disappointed by “Cosmogenesis” because I know the extreme awesomeness these extremely talented individuals are capable of, it just gets lost on this record in a sea of over-technical compositions. They got it right on “Omnivium”, and I would love to see some of the more straight-up death metal elements from “Retribution” come around in the future. If you have not checked these tech’d out Teutons yet, start with “Omnivium”. If you crave songs with 1,000 sections, Schuldiner-esque guitar fingerbanging, and blasting out the anus by all means get “Cosmogenesis”. It’s metal as fuck and worth a listen, despite my poorly explained criticisms. It’s just not up the standard as Obscura’s other material.
- Information
- Released: 2009
- Label: Relapse
- Website: Obscura MySpace
- Band
- Steffen Kummerer: guitars, vocals
- Christian Muenzner: guitars
- Jeroen Paul Thesseling: bass
- Hannes Grossmann: drums
- Tracklist
- 01. Anticosmic Overload
- 02. Choir of Spirits
- 03. Universe Momentum
- 04. Incarnated
- 05. Orbital Elements
- 06. Desolate Spheres
- 07. Infinite Rotation
- 08. Noospheres
- 09. Cosmogenesis
- 10. Centric Flow
