The new album of Obscura or should I say Steffen Kummerer is in my eyes the best so far. It is again very progressive but there is more line in the songs. On earlier albums I lost track some times because of the many changes in tempo and style, this time they don’t do that less, but more structured and more in benefit of the song. Steffen recruited some new very skilled musicians around him.
The virtuose shredder Rafael Trujillo joined the band late 2015 and replaced Tom Geldschläger. As far as I know Tom plays (together with Steffen) the guitar parts on this new cd. In the video of the titletrack however, Rafael is present. The drums played by Sebastian Lanser sound really authentic and not mechanical like on some other albums in the genre. Sebastian does an excellent job here. On bass we hear Linus Klausenitzer. His fretless playing sounds great and gives the songs a kind of jazz feeling. His tunes form a kind of gurgling stream to keep the songs going. Captain Steffen his vocals are very variable, besides his grunting and grasping voice, there are several robotical singing parts. Compare it with what Cynic does and you have an idea.
It is almost impossible to describe the music because of the big variety and styles used. Shredding, blasting parts, thrash riffs, fretless bass interludes, jazzy parts, grunting, orchestral elements (especially in “Weltseele”) are all present here. Obscura succeeded in recording an album with extreme complex music without turning into an unstructured mess or virtuose overdoing and keeping an eye for melody. Fans of Cynic and progressive death fans in general have to check this out.
Tracklist:
01. Sermon Of the Seven Suns
02. The Monist
03. Akroasis
04. Ten Sepiroth
05. Ode To the Sun
06. Fractal Dimensions
07. Perpetual Infinity
08. Weltseele
Playing time: 54:07
Release date: 5 February 2016
Label: Relapse Records
Website: www.realmofobscura.com
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