reviews

Obscura - Cosmogenesis

posted by: maurice on 5 February 2009

'Cosmogenesis' could be the follow up to 'The Sound of Perseverance', the latest album of Death. Obscura, a German band that now releases their second album consists of ex-members of Pestilence and Necrophagist. As Pestilence and Death did in the past, Obscura is forcing progressive (death) metal to new boundaries in 2009.

Luckily they�ve circumvented the trap of giving the new album a too clinical sound just like a lot of progressive band do on their albums. Sure, perfection is a key role in this type of music but Obscura still gave these songs balls and brutality so not only the technical freaks can enjoy �Cosmogenesis�. The aggression in the songs �Desolate Spheres� or �Cosmogenesis� is a good example of this method.

The song before, �Orbital Elements� proves guitarist/vocalist Steffen Kummerer not only used Death and Pestilence as inspiration. It starts off like �Fade to Black� by Metallica and slowly continues with a black metal riff, which gives this song a different and grim feeling in contrast to the rest of the songs. The jazzy way the bass is played only confuses the listener more and more.

Vocally mostly a death metal grunt is used but when the music asks for it Steffen also uses clean deformed vocals or screams. This diversity gives the listener also the time to breathe. Add to this that the band not only shows their technical skills, they also prove they�ve succeeded in writing great melodies and songs. I can only conclude this is a perfect album for progressive death metal fans and people who look further than the standard (death) metal band.

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