Artist: Obscura
Released: 2011 RATING: 4.5/5
The Good: I thought about this one carefully. Listening to a lot of metal in my life, I tried to put this album in context compared to what I had already heard. I confess, I am a HUGE fan of Death, which is one of the most obvious influences Obscura draws from, what with the myriad of heavy and driving yet progressive, melodic riffs and the harsh vocal delivery of deep subject matter. And I will admit, I am usually pretty quick to call out imitators, especially of Death, whose music I borderline revere. But I don't feel that way AT ALL with Omnivium. In fact, it feels like a breath of fresh air to me; one of the few albums, like The Sound of Perseverance, that makes me think "And I lived without this for how long???" Granted, I have heard better albums; Omnivium is certainly not on TSoP's level, and does offer some standard Obscura tricks, which keep it from being revolutionary in any way. What this album is is a masterful work of Progressive metal. The band has always been a clinic on instrumental virtuosity, but compared to Cosmogenesis, their previous album, this album impresses for one reason: The songs are better. Yes, Cosmogenesis was a very good album, but it was firmly rooted in the standard tech-death formula that it merely was above average, if that. Obscura manages to add in elements, such as use of vocal effects (mainly the ethereal chanting) and melody, along with even more complex instrumental parts (if that were even possible), to make the songs as memorable as progressive metal could possibly be. The best part is, this is evidenced in minor parts as well as major parts of the songs. Take, for example, the bass interlude at the back-end of "Prismal Dawn", or the highly emotive and melodic solo on "Celestial Spheres"; just two great moments that comprise an album comprised entirely of such great parts. That is to say, every song in their entirety is very good. The chanting was interesting to me; it reminded me a bit of the Halo games, and just all the sort of epic associations that go with them, which the band achieved here with said element. Without gushing too much, I would like to say that Omnivium has truly helped restore my faith in the contemporary metal scene, helping to erase the sense of staleness that many of the "-core" bands and other assorted mindless death bands had given me. Please get this album, if you can.
The Bad: The songs do run kind of long, which is inconvenient at times. But, honestly? That;s not even a big deal. This album, while extremely good, is not as groundbreaking as releases by such bands as Death, Cynic, Athiest, or Morbid Angel (who clearly have left their mark on the band), so don't get your hopes up in that case. Think of Omnivium as on the tier directly beneath them, but just barely so.
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