Obliteration – Black Death Horizon

30 November 2023

I don’t care about trends. Personally, I prefer well-made electronic music albums by bands like Röyksopp, to some of the recent metal bands. There is no need to rediscover America for the music to be good. If you value the spirit and uncompromising attitude, you are in the right place.

There’s nothing like old school done well. Obliteration is a very good death metal band from Kolbotn, the hometown of Darkthrone. The content is old school to the core. Although the members are from Norway, they resemble Stockholm death metal veterans Nihilist, Entombed and Dismember. Additionally, there are plenty of Autopsy influences. The doomy parts are reminiscent of Autopsy. Although production is clean, the sound is very old school.

In fact, the band is not new. They were founded in 2001 and this is their third album. After listening to their albums, I regretted discovering them late. On the other hand, the fact that their line-up has not changed since the first album is an important plus regarding band’s chemistry.

The album consists of 6 tracks and one outro. They are definitely not presenting anything new, but they do it well. They preferred a prominent bass guitar sound. There are some enjoyable solo bass parts. Drummer Kristian beats his instrument brutally throughout the album. He fuels the dynamism of the group with his effective use of cymbals. The occasional Slayer-like screams of the guitars enhance the joy of the album.

The fluctuations between the doom-like parts and the pure death metal parts are wonderful. Vocalist Sindre’s vocals are pleasing, reminding me of Matti Karki and Chris Reifert at times.

By far one of the best death metal albums I’ve listened to in recent years. I remember the last time I was so impressed while listening to Repugnant and Deathevokation. The magnificent bass guitar part at the beginning of Ascendance is a good reference for what you will encounter. You could give it a try first.

I definitely recommend it to those who want serious, intelligent death metal. I think it’s one of the best albums of 2013. Enjoy.

9,5/10

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