Tag Archives: Ageless Oblivion

Ghost Cult’s Top Death Metal Albums of 2021

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It had been coming for a while… the underground has been festering and bubbling under for the last few years. A new breed of leaders, including Blood Incantation (who have definitely already influenced many of their peers), Tomb Mold, Gatecreeper, Necrot and Undeath, among others, have taken on the mantle from the old titans; the lava has been flowing molten and in 2021 the subterranean erupted. Barely a week went by without at least one brain-melting addition to the pile of bodies… Continue reading →


Obscene Entity – Lamentia

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By this point, it shouldn’t surprise too many people to hear that Death Metal is stronger right now than it’s been since the 90’s. The renaissance – for want of a better word – has been going on for years now, and the renewed quality and focus has spread to most pre-existing subgenres as well as made some new ones. Among the slew of Old School-, Post-, Blackened-, Progressive- and Abstract Art Tentacles-Death Metal, however, the 90’s American style of DM characterised by bands like Cannibal Corpse has been largely absent.

On their debut Lamentia (Tridroid), Obscene Entity combine this currently underrepresented style with a touch of Ulcerate’s atmospheric, ambient approach. The combination of crushing, rhythmic Death Metal with more progressive passages is reminiscent of fellow Brits Ageless Oblivion, but much tighter and more focussed. Unlike some of their peers, OE understand that a short and concise album is often preferable to a longer one, and Lamentia makes it points quickly and effectively. Some thought has also gone into the structure, with an instrumental separating the more progressive tracks at the end from the more straightforwardly brutal first half.

Lamentia may not offer anything particularly original in terms of its musical elements, but they’ve been combined effectively to make an album with both instant catchiness and lasting depth. Another example that the current health of Death Metal is not entirely linked to the success of a couple of “big name” bands, and another name to add to the list of bands to watch out for.

 

7.0/10

 

RICHIE HR

 

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Ulcerate – Bell Witch – Ageless Oblivion: Star and Garter, Manchester (UK)

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This multinational bill covered three continents and crossed several extreme sub-genres, which may have accounted for a disappointing attendance. A mere dozen witnessed Hampshire quintet Ageless Oblivion take to the stage but a Death-Groove explosion, orchestrated by the phenomenal drumming of Noah See, steadily roused the populace. The brooding, savage ‘Penthos’ displayed the band’s versatility, a pensive progression offset by bone-crushing main sections, and was the high point of a dramatic and technically superb performance.

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Ageless Oblivion. Star & Garter, Manchester, 2015. Photo Credit: Rich Price

The intensity with which Bell Witch drummer Jesse Shreibman leant over his kit whilst studiously watching bassist Dylan Desmond, accurately portrayed the belief and intent with which he subsequently laid waste to it. Desmond’s huge 6-string bass towered over the bewitched throng as he softly intoned into the mic, his fingers caressing the fretboard and producing notes usually out of reach to mere mortals. ‘…Awoken (Breathing Teeth)’ was harrowing, omnipotent and bewildering: Desmond’s mournful strings weighing on Schreibman’s bowed head until he pounded back in with the force of a fucked-off juggernaut, roaring to the sky like a wounded musk ox. The track’s frame-shuddering and impossibly moving finale sent more than one person to the benches, overwhelmed by emotion.

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Bell Witch. Star & Garter, Manchester, 2015. Photo Credit: Rich Price

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Michael Hoggard, Ulcerate. Star & Garter, Manchester, 2015. Photo Credit: Rich Price

Auckland Technical Death purveyors Ulcerate displayed every element of their undoubted proficiency with urgency and muscular action. Guitarist Michael Hoggard and frontman / bassist Paul Kelland jerked lithely in almost reptilian fashion, their heads pouncing on the buckling beat like raptors. Jamie Saint Merat, meanwhile, considered one of the best sticksmen in the world, danced around his kit with the dexterity of Nijinsky whilst pounding the crap out of it. Involving yet brutal, the groove of ‘Soullessness Embraced’ was pushed through every bone by a wiry frontman wielding his bass like a demanding lover; while Hoggard, his freakishly long, flexing neck moving with the articulation of a Bosc Monitor, flung his instrument around like a toy in a kid’s hand. ‘Weight of Emptiness’ meanwhile, its sinister clashes and clangs shot through with brutal portent, highlighted again the incredible work of Merat who hypnotised all by slamming perfected, multiple rhythms down our throats whilst appearing to do nothing.

For a New Zealand band to perform 11,000 miles from home with this intensity to a room of 50 people was both criminal and admirable. An eclectic bill in many ways, Bell Witch just about stole it but every band played their part in a remarkable show of strength.

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Paul Kelland, Ulcerate. Star & Garter, Manchester, 2015. Photo Credit: Rich Price

 

WORDS BY PAUL QUINN

PHOTOS BY RICH PRICE PHOTOGRAPHY