Obscura - Akróasis Album Review
Technical death metal’s astronaut philosophers, Obscura, have earned and maintained the admiration and respect of the extreme metal community through their jaw-dropping technical prowess and fearless approach to progressive songwriting. Despite numerous line-up changes, Obscura’s output has always been consistent in both thematic flavor and musical quality. The past two Obscura records are part of an interconnected conceptual journey that explores various astrophysical and philosophical ideas, and ‘Akróasis’ continues to explore those themes without tiring them out. The band’s musical style is intricate, ethereal, and esoteric, weaving an atmospheric texture made up of astral-projection and nebular explosions, philosophical pondering and metaphysical adventure. As masters and pioneers of this cerebral and grandiose approach to technical death metal, Obscura have set the bar quite high for themselves, but Akróasis delivers a solid and fresh addition to the band’s revered discography.
The album immediately goes for the throat with ‘Sermon of the Seven Suns’, driving forward with incredibly tight metal riffing. The guitar parts are highly inventive, incorporating characteristically wide intervallic leaps and ferocious alternate picking. A new addition to the band’s sound is the incredible guitar work of fretless guitarist Tom Geldschläger, who unfortunately only lasted a few months in the band. The wild, soaring sound of Geldschläger’s leads add an even greater level of otherworldliness to the album.
Part of what sets Obscura apart from lesser technical death metal and progressive metal bands is their respect and dedication to their songwriting craft. The band members’ impressive technical talents are always aimed towards a songwriting purpose, rather than mere athleticism. Likewise, the songs are never constructed with brutality as the primary goal; rather, the band seems to aim for a particular style of dark and powerful musicality, with brutality sometimes being the result. Case in point is ‘The Monist’, the album’s heaviest and most bloodthirsty track. The song’s death metal aggression never feels forced but comes across as a necessary result of the music.
‘Akróasis’ prominently features Cynic-style vocoder vocals, which may seem initially laughable to anyone not familiar with the sound. But it quickly becomes clear that the robotic, alien vibe of those vocal parts fits perfectly with ‘Akróasis’s’ atmospheric goal. The album is an absorbing experience that transports the listener to a dark, deep space realm, with every instrument and sound contributing to that effect. To some this may seem too comic-booky or sci-fi, but Obscura fans know how to appreciate the band’s unique texture and will be thoroughly satisfied with the degree to which ‘Akroóasis’ constructs that texture in a revitalized way.
An interesting effect of the album’s sound is the strange fusion of aggressive metal riffing with a melancholic and placid vibe. The virtuosic fretless bass lines of Linus Klausenitzer give the band’s rhythmic foundation a sense of shimmering liquidity, whilst still providing rock-solid foundation for the guitar parts. The guitar riffs themselves alternate between terrifying aggression like the tremolo-picked warfare of ‘Ode to the Sun’, and a sense of abstract and ethereal sadness.
Tastefully brutal and magnificently technical, ‘Akroasis’ reaffirms Obscura as Gods of their genre. Mastermind guitarist and vocalist Steffen Kummerer has suggested that this album is the third part of a four part conceptual series; if this record is any indication of future quality, the final chapter will definitely be one to look forward to.
About the Author
Stuart Kristensen Stuart Kristensen is a music nerd from Ontario, Canada. His musical tastes are diverse, ranging from extreme metal to 80’s new wave. He enjoys playing guitar and creative writing, and is currently enrolled as a student at Trent University.
