OBSCURA
A Sonication
Nuclear Blast Records
While there supposedly is no such thing as bad publicity, the publicity surrounding the new seventh album from German-based tech deathsters OBSCURA isn't exactly the brand of "bad" any band really wants.
Two recent, now former, members - bassist Alex Weber (also of EXIST) and two-time guitarist Christian Munzner - accused founding guitarist/vocalist Steffen Kummerer of intellectual property theft in the lead up to the album's release, claiming it contains material they had composed prior to their departures despite assurances that it would not be used. Munzner went so far as to single out OBSCURA's label, Nuclear Blast, saying if it released A Sonication,"they are thiefs (sic) as well".
Well, "thiefs" it is, at least per Munzner. After the various parties - the aggrieved and the accused, who has subsequently issued a denial - fought it out in the court of public opinion on social media, the album is being released as planned and OBSCURA is readying to hit the road. Whether the matter ultimately ends up in a court of law remains to be seen.
With OSBCURA's near constant membership churn over the past several years, it's no wonder there isn't some confusion, deliberate or otherwise, with regard to who composed what and for what purpose. The current lineup surrounding Kummerer -guitarist Kevin Olasz, bassist Robin Zielhorst and drummer James Stewart (also of DECAPITATED) - is third new team since 2020.
Yet A Sonication bears the hallmarks of classic OBSCURA, as did 2021's A Valediction, which came together amid similar circumstances - though without all the allegations and with the benefit of the participation of Cosmogenesis/Omnivium-era veterans Munzner and bassist Jeroen Paul Thesseling. As the second album of a conceptual trilogy, it continues the thematic thread A Valediction began and features the production work of Fredrik Nordstrom once again, ensuring a bold, ballsy presentation.
And that helps accent, and indeed build upon, the streamlining the band began in earnest with A Valediction. Though the guitar work remains turbulent and sophisticated, the bass lines lithe and occasionally jazz-like, and the drumming athletic and explosive, OBSCURA offers a bit less technical dazzle here and more oomph and menace - especially in Kummerer's sometimes quite bestial vocals.
A Sonication is as lean and mean as the band has ever been. The roughly 39-minute runtime of its eight tracks is some 12-15 minutes shorter than nearly all the band's previous work, save for the 45-minute debut Retribution way back in 2005.
Things here kick off at full speed with blastbeats powering "Silver Linings" from note one. Stewart provides a steady salvo of blasts and double bass gallops throughout - including the instrumental "Beyond the Seventh Sun" - capped off by the ironically titled "The Prolonging", a 2:08 microburst that delivers a grindcore-ish pummel, even with its supple lead tradeoffs.
Kummerer gets downright Corpsegrinder-like on the vocals here, with a guttural roar that contrasts his usual shriek, and does so elsewhere on "In Solitude" and the hulking "The Sun Eater", which is one of the outright heaviest tunes the band has ever done. On the more melodic end of the spectrum, the otherwise surging "Evenfall" offers plenty of groove and singalong-like backing vocals, standing - in contrast to "The Sun Eater" - as one of OBSCURA's catchiest tunes, echoing older ARCH ENEMY to a degree.
"Stardust" has a powermetally quality with its mix of elegant guitar harmonies atop slashing riffs and epic sensibilities, with the song clocking in at about 6:30. Even grander, perhaps appropriately, is the title track, which closes the album out with the kind of scale and dexterity we've come to expect of OBSCURA and sets the stage for the trilogy's conclusion.
Be interesting to see who the cast of characters will be for that a few years down the road. For now, despite the changes, charges and denials, OBSCURA marches ever forward with A Sonication and builds on its legacy of top-notch tech-death - and internal drama.
3.5 Out Of 5.0
