Technical Death Metal legends Obscura have announced their new album, their sixth A Valediction will see the light of day on November 19th coming via Nuclear Blast Records. Pre-orders are live at the link below. Check out the new single and video for “Solaris” directed by Mirko Witzki right now!
Ghost Cult has teamed up with Canada’s brutal Skyless Aeons of their new single, “Go Forth And Multiply”! The track is the title cut from their forthcoming new album, Drain The Sun, due out October 2nd. With a sound that calls to mind Death, Gorguts, early Cryptopsy, Obscura, Dying Fetus, and more, the rising Technical Progressive Death Metal band is looking to make a huge impact on the scene. Check out “Drain The Sun” right now!
Seems like we’ve seen this movie before. Tech death masters Obscura and its leader Steffen Kummerer has parted ways with guitarist Rafael Trujillo, bassist Linus Klausenitzer and drummer Sebastian Lanser due to “musical differences”. The departing members will launch a new band Obsidious. Kummerer made the announcement on social media. Continue reading
Tech-Death kings Obscura released their excellent Diluvium album earlier this year via Relapse Records. Watch guitarist Steffen Kimmerer on this guitar playthrough video for ‘Emergent Evolution”. You can catch the band on tour next winter:Continue reading
Tonight is a busy day for Metal in the Capital, with the dreaded evening of multiple gig clashes, within a few stops of the Northern Line alone. One stop down from tonight’s proceedings in Tufnell Park sees the Cerberus-like bill of Behemoth, At The Gates and Wolves In The Throne Room, whilst Camden Town sees Toundra for those seeking something more mellow, and Obscura for some who, well, aren’t. This goes someway to explaining why The Dome looks tonight to be, at best, around half capacity for much of the night. Not that this seems to dampen anyone’s mood, as all night the crowd are on fine form, showing the bands plenty of love and movement as well as respect to one another. Continue reading
If anything can be learned from Jinjer, it is that you can never have disrespect for drive and a strong work ethic. Aside from working on a new album and reissuing their 2014 LP Cloud Factory, these Ukranian upstarts also have a fresh EP in Micro (Napalm Records) ready to be dropped on a hungry audience. And let me tell you, that volume-centric approach is paying off nicely.Continue reading
Oh look, Hate Eternal has a new album on the way. Sweet, let’s see how long it takes before I run out of adjectives to describe brutal Death Metal. On Upon Desolate Sands (Season of Mist) I think I made it to ‘Portal of Myriad’ only to realize I was running on fumes. I’m not sure what kind of pact Erik Rutan struck up with Cthulu, but it’s given him access to enough pulverizing song ideas to power seven long-players and produce countless Death Metal standouts.Continue reading
In case you were caught unawares, the “tech” in the tech death sub-genre of metal means technical. It’s an important distinction to make since death metal can be many things, not all of it deserves the lofty label. The earliest purveyors of the style might have been extreme, and well accomplished at playing their instruments, but not living up to the name. Later bands definitely upped the ante on what could be accomplished and now we are talking about an umbrella of bands that could mean Cannibal Corpse, Dying Fetus, Death, Beyond Creation, Gorguts, Neuraxis, Obscura, Cryptopsy, and many more. Hailing from the small island nation of Malta, comes Abysmal Torment, who want you to know in no uncertain terms they can carry the weight. Their new album The Misanthrope (Willowtip) is a brutal exploration of the style in every track.Continue reading
Reviewing technical death metal is always a double-edged sword, on the one hand, it sounds ace, but it requires some sort of advanced music qualification just to try and explain what on earth is going on. Anything labelled tech or prog is setting a pretty high bar for oneself, tech can often be an excuse for a band to push themselves to such heights of fretboard gymnastics it becomes inaccessible to most listeners, and prog can often descend into a ‘make sure you include the kitchen sink’ tick box exercise that it becomes formulaic. Continue reading
