OMNIVIUM

This is the third album from German metal band Obscura. I haven't heard their first two. From what I have read, these guys get compared to Necrophagist, a band I've never heard. The music here sounds influenced by 1990s Athiest and Death. There is a 6-string fretless bass and the occasional Cynic-like use of vocoder vocals. Some Opethian acoustic guitar once in a while too. In general I don't really care for the singing here. I thought death growls were unintentionally hilarious 15 years ago and I still think so.

The growls here are not of the 'cookie monster' variety, but rather 'Dr. Claw' sounding. Dr. Claw was the villain from the cartoon Inspector Gadget. Yes folks, apparently even with death growling there is variation. I personally only like growling when women do it but that's just me. Apart from the growls, there is also somewhere-between-yelling-and-screaming vocals as well as 'clean' vocals. This kind of music is referred to as 'technical death metal,' otherwise known as 'chick music.'

"Septuagint" opens the album. The beginning reminds me of '80s Metallica with the classical acoustic guitar intro followed by harmonized electric guitars. Nice clean singing in the middle and more harmonized guitars. Cliche metal soloing after 5 minutes. I love the soloing and melodic fretless bass in "Vortex Omnivium." Cool choir-like vocals near the end. "Ocean Gateways" is the only song where I actually sorta kinda enjoy the Dr. Claw death growls, which sometimes sound altered. I like the main Sabbath-like riff as well.

"Prismal Dawn" opens with more acoustic guitar. Nice lead guitar playing. Some melodic studio altered harmony vocals. Drummer goes into a steady 4/4 beat briefly. A little bit of spoken word. More cliche metal soloing at times. Some of the best moments on the album can be heard during the last 2 minutes of this song. "Celestial Spheres" has some great vocoderized vocals. More clean singing as well as harmonized and acoustic guitars. Features an excellent but too short bass solo.

"Velocity" is the most dissonant and challenging song. Almost sounds like Math Rock in places. It gets more melodic and accessible during the guitar solo. Some vocoder vocals. It almost sounds like a few piano notes at the beginning of "A Transcendental Serenade." I like the sound of the guitars in the middle. Holy blastbeats, Batman! Just love the melodic vocoder vocals at the end; just may be my favourite part of the whole album.

For a 2011 release this isn't bad music at all. Not extremely original or groundbreaking but fairly consistent and enjoyable. The cover artwork is really good. I would probably like this album twice as much if it were 100% instrumental. My final verdict would be a 3.5, but I can't bring myself to give it 4 stars. Fans of Tech/Extreme should enjoy this.

"I'LL GET YOU NEXT TIME GADGET...NEXT TIME!"