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Ladies and Gentlemen - here it is! The new Masterpiece from Skeletonwitch! Finally! The eight songs are a pretty fat middle finger towards sceptical critics and also a great proof that the dead live longer. Not every band succeeds in changing singers, as the vocalist is usually the defining element. In the case of the brutal roar of a Thrash/Black Combo, as Skeletonwitch is, this may not matter at first hearing impression. But Adam Clemans at the mice is doing a hell of a job. After Chance Garnette's exit in 2014 and Andy Horn's short guest appearance, Clemans enlivens the band from Ohio with a greater vocal range and variety. Especially in deep growling the guy is a real power ("Devouring Radiant Light").
A big plus: the change of line-up has an extremely positive influence on the songwriting. Did the first records usually consist of two to three minute songs with an almost antisocial, cold sound, the repertoire today is broader: more top-heavy, a little bit progy, more profound. Especially the quiet intros in the pre-release "Fen of Shadows" or the title track "Devouring Radiant Light" are clear boundaries to the early work and set great "calm before the storm" accents. New are also seasons beyond the six minutes: "The Vault" is a doomy and groovy nine minute monster - just awesome!
The whole reocrd is creative, never boring, a cool step forward, but hey: skeletonwitch are really fun when they smash balls! The "Bay Area" tempo change in "Temple oft he Sun" invites to "moshpit deluxe", "The Luminous Sky" is Dave Lombardo's illegitimate child. Straight hit in the face - Killer!
The album is rounded off by the classic "Kurt Balou & GodCity Studio" Signature-sound. Wide arrangements, fat sounds, lots of space and warmth. Brutaly catchy!
In November Skeletonwitch are on a Co-headliner tour with the brilliant Mantar from Bremen. You can find me at "Markthalle" in Hamburg, Germany at the bar on the upper left. Really looking forward to it!
"Made in Germany" - a quality feature. Hardly any other saying summarizes the prejudices about us Germans more aptly. Technically perfect, best material, built by specialists, made for eternity, precisely manufactured. Even if many products nowadays no longer meet these standards (#formerly all better), Obscura from Landshut are welcome to put a "Made in Germany"-sticker on their record cover. But it shouldn't be too big, it would destroy a great album artwork. The two lettering on the front reveal where it goes: Deathprog meets Tech.
"Clandestine Stars" and "Emergent Evolution" lead the way. Epic solos, progy parts, thrash at its best, double guitars battleing with an incredible tight rhythm section - an insane style mix, which was nevertheless clearly mixed in the end product. Everything sounds great together and yet every musician gets enough space. Right from the start it's clear: professionals at work.
The first time the flanger passes over the voice, it seems very idiosyncratic. But if you put the album into the context of the previous three records, the conclusion of which is "Diluvium", the pitched vocals absolutly make sense: it's about death, the transition into nothing, into other spheres, into the infinite cosmos. Thanks to the effect, the vocals get a nice touch of science fiction and form a cool change to the typical melodic death stencil "growl - clear - growl". Beam me up, Progie!
"To call "diluvium" tricky, nested or complicated would be grossly understated. Trash meets death meets black meets prog meets melodic meets tech. Doublebass meets bass solo (are that seven strings? dude!) meets Djent meets Math. The song renounces the pitched chorus for the first time. Five insane minutes!
"Mortification of the Vulgar Sun" is raising the cliché alarm - typical prog, but just awesome. But hey - if you get this record, then you want to have it that way. Other bands do the same, but only a few at Obscura's level. With the dropped chords and Steffen Kummerer's hissing and tweaking the song gets a strong, frightening and dark note without equal - vocally a highlight of the record. The highspeed guitar runs complete the technically perfect impression. Suddenly in the middle of the song: silence. Then acoustic guitar. Wilson and Akerfeld send their regards. "For those about to prog, we salute you".
"Ethereal Skies" is simply strong guitar work. At some crossroads, Messrs Kummerer and Trujillo guaranteed to sell their souls to the devil for this skills. Steve Vai likes that. While the flanger on the voice seemed strange to me at first, here it is a perfect stylistic device and kicks particularly well in the pleasant harmonies. The major parts create a rough mood, the strings give you goose bumps and lead elegantly into the guitar solo. The following rhythm changes show again: on the strings and on the drums, the combo from Landshut are pros - incomprehensible speeds, awesome scales. Linus Klausenitzer on bass is just a great artist!
"Convergence doesn't take prisoners. Some rank and file death combo would kill for such differentiation and speed. Drummer Sebastian Lanser shows four minutes of pure madness.
Do I hear Metallica? The intro to "Ekpyrosis" almost creates a stadium atmosphere. But then he got rid of it, because after half a minute at the latest our favourite guy from Danmark, Lars Ullrich wouldn't come along anymore. All Killer no Filler? Admittedly, the guitar parts in the verses look like they have done before. But at the latest the acoustic part with the grandiose, atmospheric solo heralds an extraordinarily warm and exciting instrumental part.
"The Seventh Aeon" delivers typical Obscura trademarks: classical arrangements and Spanish flamenco feeling round off the probably "most popular" song of the album. If you look at the blastbeat thunderstorm under some passages (cool, as the high toms break again and again), we have the most pleasant head nicker of the record.
Albumtopic "Dead". Yup. Those who are still alive will be slaughtered ice-cold with "The Conjuration". The song is a wicked "black" thunderstorm. The change between dull and dry guitar sounds and clear drums and vice versa is a cool effect, which gives the five and a half minutes of frenzy a bad foundation. F... awesome!
There it is again, the stadium atmosphere. Groovy riff, doomy heaviness, which drags into the verse. A little "Sad but true" moment. "An Epilogue to Infinity" is only traversed by flamenco-like rhythms and Hamonia. But it soon becomes clear that the song closes the circle for Obscura. Like at the beginning of the record the band pulls out all genre registers.
A last farewell represents a beautiful and calm conclusion. Sound-wise a great pleasure, an exciting drift into other spheres, a beautiful death, a transition into... where actually? Hopefully on many stages worldwide. At the moment Obscura are touring America with a great album "Made in Germany" in their luggage. And it growls, and growls, growls...
