Obsidious reveals its first album.
In 2020, Linus Klausenitzer (bass, Eternity’s End, Alkaloid), Sebastian Lanser (drums) and Rafael Trujillo (guitar) left Obscura and began the project. Joined by Javi Perera (vocals, Juggernaut), the band signs with Season of Mist and announces the release of Iconic in 2022.
It’s with Under Black Skies that the band begins its album, immediately mixing technicality and rage on a high tempo, accompanied by some orchestrations and massive screams. Clean vocals also find their place on the chorus, before the groove comes back to strike with airy lead parts, then Sense Of Lust comes to crush us with heavy riffs, including this heavy bass sound. The dark tones melt to the warlike vocal parts to create a majestic but oppressive atmosphere, before Iconic goes back to speed, letting musicians show us their skills. Clean vocals are also back, and they dominate the track while letting screams intervene at times before guiding us on Bound By Fire and its heady leads. The track mixes heaviness, speed and extreme mastery while presenting Djent elements, just like on Iron & Dust, which also knows how to place softer elements between two explosions of raw violence. The track takes advantage of jerky harmonics to let its catchy basis express itself with a devastating groove, just like on the long and heavy I Am, which mixes the band’s most aggressive elements with jerky patterns and more modern touches, like samples. Vocal parts also show more diversity until the soothing final, which will let Delusion blow up the most complex influences. The band will also strike with powerful riffs to create a balance with devastating parts, then Devotion returns to quietness for a short intro before musicians go back to full speed, only slowing down to offer majestic riffs. Nowhere follows with a similar recipe which offers some balance between the band’s different roots while remaining anchored in an omnipresent technicality, then Lake Of Afterlife will close the album with a mix that keeps all the previous elements, but adds soaring samples to create an interesting contrast.
Although the band is young, Obsidious’ musicians are far from being inexperienced and we feel it on Iconic. The album is long, but it is still incredibly rich, skillfully mixing Technical Death and Progressive Metal with some mastery.
85/100