Change can be a catalyst to influence great difference in a band. No stranger to a different line up, Obscura have at long last gathered momentum to release their first material in half a decade. Since the band’s primeval state, first stretching their metaphorical muscles in the cosmos the band have become one of the premier league in Technical Death Metal. Once more returning to the path of totality with a renewed sense of identity we welcome the genesis of a new epoch, the age of Akroasis.
[tracklist]
1. Sermon of The Seven Suns
2. The Monist
3. Akroasis
4. Ten Sepiroth
5. Ode to The Sun
6. Fractal Dimension
7. Perpetual Infinity
8. Weltsteele
[/tracklist]
[details]
[length]53:00[/length]
[record_label]Relapse Records[/record_label]
[release_date]February 5th 2016[/release_date]
[/details]
The promise of new Obscura material was increasingly more of a forelorn hope. Lacking two of the band’s principal song writers, drummer Hannes Grossman and guitarist Christian Muenzner lead singer and Obscura maestro Steffen Kummerrer resolved to cleanse the band’s pallette. Writing and recording new material with a renewed and line up consisting of now ex-guitarist Tom Fountainhead and current drummer Sebastian Lanser.
Trepidatious about a first listen after the departure of significant members immediately “Sermon of the Seven Suns” makes it’s formiddable presence known encapsulating the metaphysical sound the band have become synonymous with. Following much of the same pattern that Obscura have done in the past tracks are just as melodic as they have been in their previous incarnations. With Akroasis however, the band thrive on creativity “The Monist” brings a more malleable guitar sound to a genre often devoid of organic feeling bringing to mind a more vintage and earthy approach.
Immediate highlight among the album is title track “Akroasis” awash with melody whilst not sacrificing speed treads familiar ground whilst also breaking new ground. Kummerer’s raspy overlooked Ihashn-like vocals come into play in the otherworldly “Ode To The Sun“. Disguised with a planet flattening verse the song features a first for the band of the inclusion of a choir contrasting excellently with the singers vocals suggesting a sense of samsara, of alpha and omega an idea of the constant. Bouncing between both assiduous riffing of the fast paced sections to the opaque verses, Fountainhead’s lead sections create beautiful musical galaxies navigated effortlessly by the rest of the band. Often boxed in with the regimented technicality minutae “Ten Sepiroth” each detail is dissected without losing its raison d’etre.
Akroasis still ensures that there are musical labyrinths to navigate but allowing for shorter songs means tracks are easier to digest. Despite this however the monumental “Weltsteele” clocking in at fifteen minutes, is a veritable cosmos of progressive rhythms. Tethered together by a string section navigating musical landscapes not commonly affiliated with Obscura whilst incorporating unorthodox classical guitar pieces. It’s quite the undertaking, fluctuation in the track ensures that there is not a sense of gloating technicality. The focus instead on the song itself rather than an overindulgent shred fest.
Akroasis has not only seen Obscura return to absolutely stunning form but has seen the band once more as pioneers of a methodical, scientific genre whilst dexterously executing their technicality so do the band retain a sense of the sentient. Giving the eight tracks a new lease of life, capitalising on their previous endeavour to make Akroasis a just addition if not an essential addendum to their imposing back catalogue.
[verdict]Yes[/verdict]
[why]Akroasis is a breathtaking melting pot of Promethean riffs and technicality brimming with melody. Hardly the same incarnation the cosmogenesis of Obscura is an ever adaptable organism ever conscious of its devastating impact.[/why]
