Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Review of Obscura - Cosmogenesis

I finally got my laptop fixed, so that means I can get back to reviewing things. Hooray!

Okay, so for my first review of 2009, I turn to German metal band Obscura, whose debut “Cosmogeneis” just came out on Feb. 17.

What you get is highly technical death metal with a focus on instrumentation. These guys can play pretty well. Almost every song has a sweet solo, and there are even some nice acoustic pieces thrown in there every now and then which remind me of Opeth.

The lyrics are pretty well written; they possess a real poetic quality that sometimes seem to harken to a higher power or supernatural being. I thought they might have been a Christian band when I first read through the lyrics. Not that you’ll really be able to understand much of what is being said through Steffen Kummerer’s death metal growl. Kummerer does a solid job but doesn’t really do anything I haven’t heard before and doesn't deviate much from his standard routine.

If you're a fan of technical death metal, "Cosmogenesis" is the album for you. There’s no question that the band members have talent, but sometimes it feels as if there's a lack of truly catchy or memorable riffs. There are some good riffs here and there, but this album shows that Obscura might be a little less obscure if they could inject a little more creativity into their songwriting. However, they do succeed in this at times. The instrumental track "Orbital Elements" is five minutes of metal goodness with lots of progression and variation.

The production quality of "Cosmogenesis" really shines. It also just has a certain charm that sets it apart from many death metal releases. In the end, "Cosmogenesis" provides a solid technical metal experience that should satisfy many fans of the genre, but if you're looking for complexity or creativity in songwriting, this album may not be for you.