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Obsidian is a newer band out in the Death Metal field, and with their debut album, they haven't really been met with much warm reception. The views towards their Emerging were often all over the board, but then again their previous effort was all over the board musically. So, it's no shock that ob Obsidian's follow-up full-length effort, Point of Infinity, the band is at it again, and really pushing the Progressive nature of their sound. However, while the heavier, pounding Death Metal is fantastic, it's the lighter aspects and clean singing that are extremely debatable on this release. When it comes to the actual Death Metal, the band becomes a monster on this recording. The music hammers away with a great deal of intensity, and often in a very fast pace. The vocals on here are razor sharp gutterals, though sometimes they can feel a bit restrained, such as some moments on the track "Breach" when you can hear the vocalist push to get them out. The band is also able to incorporate some heavy Slam moments on some of the songs, such as during "Illuminate". But, the band can also find faults in their own music. While "Illuminate" sets up the album with intensity and complexity in the guitars, there are other tracks on here that don't really hold much of a Death Metal sound, but come off more as Melodic Death Metal, or can even be slowed down at times to a slower pace to accomodate some really inhuman sounding gutterals against a really well done background of atmospheric Progressive guitar riffs, such as "Tidal Waves" features. Of course, that's really the only positive aspects that could be said for this release. For all the intensity involved on Point of Infinity, the band has one huge downfall, and it's the inclusion of clean singing and lighter musical breaks. These can kill the material in many ways, sadly. First of all, the lighter breaks in the music often feel forced without any real transition utilized. While it's a method that Opeth can pull off, the lighter moments don't come off artistic in any form, and just feel like a forced moment in the song to appeal to the large singing fanbase, or to just feed some kind of random urge to do so in these songs. Another reason for these parts failing is the tone deaf singing that is emitted during them. At the end of "Illuminate", there is a section that breaks down into a lighter moment with clean singing, and it's enough to make the listener want to take the disc out immediately. However, pressing on will reveal a few more diamonds in the rough, though not many, as well as more downfalls with the release. Another issue this recording features is the band drawing out the songs way past the point of welcome. While "Tidal Waves" features an amazing approach to having really deep gutterals against a slower paced section with impressive and technical guitars setting some atmosphere in the background, the song just goes on forever past the two and a half minute mark, becoming repetitive and playing on that same gimmick throughout until the point where it just starts to get old and feel cheapened. Again, the off key singing is also imposed on here, and it's quite possibly at it's worst. After that, the album just doesn't do much to keep the listener satiated the entire time. Point of Infinity gradually just becomes repetitive with all the changes in the music that feel forced, but luckily not every track features clean singing after that point. "Desolate Rage", for example, doesn't have clean singing, but actually goes into a more Groove performance with with very limited music as a mid-tempo pace. One of the stronger elements of the music was the band's technical ability, which would have worked well on thsi track, but is sadly left out. It sounds solid enough, but like many others, it feels like it is longer then it really should be, and even half way into the song you'll start to lose interest in it, though the ending to the track manages to perk the ears a little with how it picks up the intensity. It sounds as if the band tried to make a song similar to "Incinerate", which is a song that has some good intensity behind it, and comes off more as a heavier "Tidal Waves" in concept with a rather poor Slam section. This is one of the few tracks at the end of the album that will genuinely hold your interest. The rest shows talent, or just a concept to play simpler material, and isn't the worst thing you'll ever hear, but there's just so much against Point of Infinity to make this release stand out. So much of this effort sounds forced, or eventually becomes repetitive, and even can sound lazy after a while, or just simply drawn out. The clean singing is atrocious, though the gutterals are often well done and very deep. There is no denying the members of this group have some fantastic talent in the way they play their instruments, but the problem here is they can't seem to write from one chord or speed to another without making it sound fluid. In the end, it's not a bad Progressive Death Metal album, but it's one you can honestly pass up. |
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