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Obscura: Omnivium
16/08/11 || InquisitorGeneralis
I always thought Obscura was a second-rate techdeath band who did a damn fine job recycling elements from Necrophagist, Gorguts, and Death with a modern sound. Their much hyped release “Cosmogenesis” never really did anything for me, and when I first listened to “Omnivium” for Audio Autopsy a few months ago my cock remained limp. Here’s what I had to say then…
I really wanted to like this, but the clean vocals and songs with zero flow have turned me off. Normally, I stroke mad boners over melodic techdeath. When it comes to slower, melodic sections these guys owe Death and Control Denied some royalties.
I have yet to check out their debut Retribution either. It is clear these fuckers know how to play the shit out of their instruments. But still, at first listen “Omnivium” did not move me to tears. Then a few days ago (weeks when you read this) “Ocean gateways” came up on my iPod during an extended shuffle session based on a Genius playlist to “Extreme Unction”…
What the hell, me?!?!. How did I not dig this when I first heard it? Ocean gateways completely slays along some other sizable chunks of “Omnivium”. Life is fucking me, I guess, and my brain is literally running months behind. I still believe these guys owe Chuck some royalties, and the clean vocal parts still make me cringe a little bit. But I was definitely mistaken about the songs themselves. There is some quality shit on here. If you (like me) are still waiting with your thumbs shoved firmly up your ass for the newest Necrophagist record, keep digging for brown gold asshole because that shit ain’t coming. What you do have is Obscura’s similar, but not as brutal, version of melodic, technical death metal. I would put them in the same class as The Faceless, Anata and Arsis, but it is always hard to make real connections between bands like this. They all write complicated songs, feature virtuoso guitar work, and try to blend some accessibility into their otherwise spastic mix of blasting, thrashing, and guitar string finger-banging.
Frontman Steffen Kummerer has been the only consistent member of the band, and he is clearly the driving force behind Obscura’s style and sound. His vocals are pretty solid; a bit more raspy than his guitarist/singer counterpart Douchehammed from Necrophagist. Drummer Hans Grossman, also of ‘Phagiist phame, is a beast who provides a technically insane backbone to each of the songs on here. The previously mentioned “Ocean gateways” shows he can do a slower, Gojira-like groove as good as…well…Mario D from Gojira! The, long blistering opener “Septuagint” is more you typical, fast-paced tech-death track with a huge guitar solo and melodic section plopped right in the middle. The clean vocals are not good and completely unnecessary but, thankfully, the band’s skill makes up for that. Every single song on here has some sort of finger-tapping solo and that gets a little old but Yngwie’s been doing that shit for thirty years so it can’t be all bad. “Aevum”, “A transcendental serenade”, and “Euclidean elements” also are pretty high quality.. The only track on here that I consistently skip is “Prismal dawn”; the clean vocals in the beginning just turn me off before the heavy stuff can kick in. Overall, if you like complicated, progressive, technical death metal most of the tunes on “Omnivium” will be appealing to your numbed senses. Hell, if you enjoy crappy, guitar-soaked bands like Children of Scrotum and Dragonfuck or progressive acts like Dream Theater but have yet to truly take the plunge into seriously heavy shit, this might be a good gateway drug.
If every song on here was up the level of “Ocean gateways”, or if the the clean vocals were banished, or if the guitar wankery was toned down a bit I would be scoring this in the 8-9 range. Still, considering my initial score for this record on Audio Autopsy was 5, my opinion of “Omnivium” has increased dramatically. In spite of its flaws, it is a well done, interesting, and technically impressive death metal record. The song titles and lyrical themes may seem a bit whacked out, but that is because they are based on the writings of the ADHD-stricken 19th century German philosopher Friedrich Schelling. Instead of eviscerated offspring and satanic slaughter you get nature, spirits, philosophy, and deep thoughts. The funky sperm on the cover is cool to.
No matter what your mom told you right before you went on your first date with little Suzie Rottencrotch and jizzed in your pants the first time you kissed her pimple-covered face, you do get a second chance to make a first impression. At least in IG’s world…and slacks. Check this record out. Thankfully an omniscient computer program forced me to again.
- Information
- Released: 2011
- Label: Relapse
- Website: Obscura MySpace
- Band
- Steffen Kummerer: vocals, guitars
- Christian Muenzner: guitars
- Jeroen Thesseling: bass
- Hans Grossman: drums
- Tracklist
- 01. Septuagint
- 02. Vortex Omnivium
- 03. Ocean Gateways
- 04. Euclidean Elements
- 05. Prismal Dawn
- 06. Celestial Spheres
- 07. Velocity
- 08. A Transcendental Serenade
- 09. Aevum
