The Rock Blogger

Obscura. Cosmogenesis . 2009. 4.5 stars.

Obscura play mind-blowing technical death metal in the same progressive vein as Cynic and Death, complete with fret-less bass, warped vocal effects and sci-fi/astrological themes. Like those genre giants, Obscura are simply virtuosic as they burn through their spiraling song structures. While the death metal growls may not be entirely distinctive, their juxtaposition with spacey, digitized vocals makes their delivery all the more entertaining.

The staggering musicianship of this record appears in the dizzying bass and guitar solos. The percussion is also fantastic, with pummeling blast beats (like on “Centric Flow” for instance) paving the way for winding riffs. Much more than a mere display of technicality, Cosmogenesis is rich with detail and interesting breaks and passages to space the onslaught out. Acoustic flourishes peak through songs like “Orbital Elements”, adding a distinctive layer to the vast tapestries of sound. Almost all of the tracks here branch off into a variety of directions, with shifts in time signatures, tempos and the density of guitar riffs shaking up the compositions.

Obscura have produced one of the finest works in the progressive death metal genre. While its easy to confuse their sound with their forefathers’, they still make a considerable impact in their own right. The instrumental prowess of this album is certainly its main draw. One of the finer and technically brilliant albums of the year so far.

“Anticosmic Overload”

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009 at 9:12 pm and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.