Obscuris - A Sinister Coming Into This World
“A Sinister Coming Into This World” is the debut full length release headed by blackened death metal group, Obscuris. Hailing from the Netherlands, this 2 man band led by MD on drums and MV on vocals, guitar, and bass unleash a freight train of non stop fury that is a mix of 1349 meets Cannibal Corpse with little room for melody or soft moments. A fast album that kicks hard from start to finish, especially in the drum department, listeners will be pretty much be floored before the 29 minutes are over. Opening with a typical buzz saw guitar black metal intro steeped in evil notes, the album really kicks off with ‘Reciting Vows…’ With the thunderous riffs and pounding drums one really gets the early 1349 feel here (before they went more experimental). Vocals are a mix of snarls and deep grunts that are pretty balanced and clear enough to not feel pushed back by the other instruments. This is pretty much the bread and butter feel to the album though. Not much variation between tracks, which can be good but also bad.
‘Apparition…’ is a little slower than most of the tracks and has more repetitive chug to it, but also a little more groove as well. ‘Grisly Exhibition…’ is where we get more of that Cannibal Corpse feel to the riffs and also with the vocal work; a little more death metal influenced than black metal but on the drumming end it still has that 1349 ferocity. ‘Born Out Of The Void’ has some excellent grunts to them and even a few technical guitar moments, rather than feeling like a typical fest of tremolo picks mixed with blast beats. A little more Deicide influenced, this is definitely one of the more evil sounding tracks here. Layered vocals make things more interesting as it chugs along and even the bass is a little more audible for once. Like a lot of death metal and black metal albums this particular part of the instrument armory is usually lost, so it is nice to hear Obscuris let it out every once in a while. The title track is a massive chug fest with the guitars overtaking everything in their ‘dum dum dum’ Jaws-esque attack, though the drums are a little more militant in their slams. Still, compared to the others the music does feel a little bland as it marches on.
‘Autosarcophagy’ kicks things up a notch again with the Cannibal Corpse inspired riffs. Finally there is ‘Pariah’ which goes all out on the speed. It is a whirlwind of death metal with little traces of black metal, so unfortunately the mix that was so prevalent on the first half of the album is lost in the end. However, this is probably the heaviest track on the album with some excellent groove added in, bringing the best moments of Deicide and Cannibal Corpse together. The ripping solo at the end it worth the song alone. Overall, fans might feel the album is a little too short and that at least 2 more tracks could have given Obscuris the balance it needed. The band does its best to mix black and death metal together but seem to fall a little short as the album progresses. Definitely for the fans of more brutal music as there are no keyboards or melo death moments. This is fast, ripping blackened death metal that has no mercy for listeners- in a repetitive, but good way.
3 / 5 STARS
Feb 8, 2023
Share this: