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A highly impressive debut.-
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| Obscura: Retribution |
Progressive Metal, Technical Death Metal
Vots Records / Relapse Records (2010)
August 2006 / February 17th, 2009
Initial Pressing:
- Humankind - 2:48
- Nothing - 4:57
- Unhinged - 2:17
- None Shall Be Spared - 5:58
- Alone - 3:45
- Hymn to a Nocturnal Visitor - 6:33
- Intoxicated - 2:30
- Exit Life - 3:49
- Sentiment - 6:11
- Sweet Silence (Outro) - 3:16
- Lack of Comprehension (Death Cover) - 3:46
2010 Reissue:
- Synthetically Revived (Suffocation Cover) (Bonus Track) - n/a
- God Of Emptiness (Morbid Angel Cover) (Bonus Track) - n/a
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| Review Information |
Release length: 45:50
Review posted on January 23rd, 2010
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| | Original Score: 4/5 |
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| 2011 Grading Scale: 7.5/10 |
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| 2010 Reissue: 8/10 |
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| Review |
The debut full length release, Retribution, by Obscura (not to be confused with the German Thrash Metal act of the same name), is one that many metal fans will probably never hear of or even find out about due to it being released on a smaller label. However, this is far from one to pass up. Retribution is a very intense masterpiece of Progressive Metal and Technical Death Metal that even Cryptopsy would be proud of. Blending some brilliant technical riffs with plenty of fast paced and intense moments of pure Death Metal, this release marks the start of a very promising career for this Obscura.
Much of this album is simply amazing and breath taking from the start of the song until the very end. The intensity behind each song is great, and the technical Progressive guitar riffs really add a whole other element to the music, giving off a more matured feeling to the music then many other starting bands in either style. "Humankind" is an impressive song, but it doesn't quite set the tone of the entire album, as it is clearly more of a Technical Death Metal song with only bridges between the verse and chorus having the aforementioned Progressive guitar elements. It isn't until the track "Nothing" that you really get to see what the band is capable of. The first thing about Retribution that will strike any listener is the use of bass on the album, not necessarily just following along with the guitars and just being there. Instead it has a life all it's own and brings in a whole other level of intensity to the music that really does help this album just stand out. Even with that being said, much of the rest of the album seems to follow suit with what is presented on the track "Nothing", with a few key exceptions reflecting back to "Humankind".
Some of the slower songs on here, such as "Unhinged" and "Intoxicated", dabble moreso with the Technical Death Metal aspect of the music, which is great and shows off the band's ability to weave some blistering Death Metal material together. The problem is that, after a while, these tracks will start to dull out to the more Progressive influence tracks and start to sound somewhat repetative. Then you have "Hymn to a Nocturnal Visitor" which is just absolutely amazing from start to finish with one exception: The keyboards. Now, this isn't to say that inclusion of the keyboards on this track is all around bad, it's just that around the four minute mark, the keyboard interlude utilized seriously just starts to get boring and make the track feel drawn out until it blasts back in with pure intensity and speed. "Hate Anthem" seems to have a slightly off time signature with drums that sound off from the rest of the track, but really are right on with the music, and finally the track "Exit Life" stands out the most on the album thanks to how well the song is composed, as well as the intense bridges used throughout, killer guitar solo, and rather simplistic chorus.
| 2010 Reissue: |
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The 2010 reissue by Relapse Records is actually worth picking up, even if you have the original pressing of Retribution. First of all, the album has been remastered and sounds great. Granted it's been less then four years since the album dropped in the first place, this seems to be the only release issued under that label name, and that this album has been out of print because of that. Aside the chance to actually own the release, and it being remastered for optimal sound quality, you get the addition of the bonus cover tracks "Synthetically Revived" by Suffocation and "God of Emptiness" by Morbid Angel, (the cover of "Lack of Comprehension" by Death is listed as a bonus track for this release, but was also available on the original pressing) which are just fantastic tracks to listen to and make this a reissue worth picking up. You also get the typical altered artwork which more reflects the artwork presented on the band's 2009 release Cosmogenesis. |
From the start of this release to the very end, varying from impressive to just flat out intense, Retribution is a phenomenal debut album that shows great potential for Obscura. The only issue to be had is the track "Sweet Silence", which is a low pitched guitars-only track, as if the band were playing acoustic guitars, for a little more then a minute, as it goes to silence to close out the track. Why is this a problem? Because you also have "Lack of Comprehension", a cover of the song made famous by the band Death to look forward to, kind of ruining the very end. This (and with the reissue, the other two bonus tracks) should have been placed somewhere before the track "Sentiment" to give the album the proper closing that it had before these were added. Aside that, there's absolutely nothing wrong with Retribution aside some moments of repetition in the music of the shorter songs. If you missed out on this one the first time around, now is the perfect time to get your copy.
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Digital review copy of this release provided by:
Relapse Records.
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