Obscura - Cosmogenesis

February 21, 2009

Reviewer: Matt

If you love jazz/fusion-influenced metal (Atheist, Cynic, etc.), you’ll love Cosmogenesis and might as well go out and buy this right now. 

Relapse Records is probably right that Obscura’s second release has all the ingredients of a “timeless classic.”  The musicianship is top-notch. Particularly impressive is the bass work from former Pestilence member Jeroen Paul Thesseling.  The guitar licks sound like a savage Mahavishnu Orchestra.  Acoustic guitars pop up on occasion to set a contemplative mood.  Vocalist Steffen Kummerer’s scant clean vocals are sung through a vocoder to emphasize the cosmic theme.  The production is clear and precise.

I’m sorry if I sound bored by this release, because I’m not.  It’s just hard to really get excited about such obviously talented musicians rehashing the same “progressive death metal” motifs that have been floating around for two decades now.  Cosmogenesis rocks really hard.  I found myself headbanging along to the diverse, catchy riffs on many occasions.  And I’m confident that it’s a solid contender for year end Top Ten lists.  I just can’t shake the feeling that it’s all so calculated and clinical, like Obscura was more concerned with perfecting their technique than creating something new and relevant.  But no matter how well they’ve perfected the formula, it’s still a formula, and you’ll find absolutely nothing new here.  “Incarnated,” for example, sounds like it came right off Death’s Symbolic, complete with vocals eerily aping Chuck Schuldiner’s signature bark.

All fashionably cynical, hip nonchalance notwithstanding, this album is really quite enjoyable.  It’s certainly nice to hear a band with such technical precision leave room for strong songwriting, especially considering that Obscura has in its ranks two members of Necrophagist’s Epitaph lineup.  Unlike that outfit and the legions of “tech-death” bands, Obscura doesn’t feel the need to wank their way through eighty indecipherable riffs each song, nor are they as embarrassingly cheesy as Cynic’s latest offering.   Rather, Obscura excel at writing memorable and melodic thrash riffs and tying them together with blistering but thoughtful solos.  Underlying all the melodic fury is some pretty impressive (though not particularly creative) drumming.

So is Cosmogenesis a “timeless classic”?  Probably not, but I can’t help but wonder what the reaction would have been if this had come out in a scene not bursting at the seams with dozens of similar and inferior progressive extreme metal bands.  Obscura have released a strong album; just don’t expect to be caring much about them five years from now.

Release Date: February 17th, 2009
Label: Relapse Records

TRACK LISTING

1. Anticosmic Overload
2. Choir of Spirits
3. Universe Momentum
4. Incarnated
5. Orbital Elements
6. Desolate Spheres
7. Infinite Rotation
8. Noosphere
9. Cosmogenesis
10. Centric Flow

Total playing time: 50:13

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