UMUR
"Obsolescence" is the 4th full-length studio album by US, Los Angeles, California based death metal act Abysmal Dawn, and the successor to "Leveling the Plane of Existence" from 2011. The album was released through Relapse Records in October 2014 and is the third album by Abysmal Dawn to be released through the prolific label. There have been a couple of lineup change since the release of "Leveling the Plane of Existence (2011)", as bassist Mike Cosio has been replaced by Eliseo Garcia and Andy Nelson has been added as the band´s second guitarist/backing vocalist. Band founder/guitarist/vocalist Charles Elliott and drummer Scott Fuller complete the four-piece lineup. The album also features a couple of prominent guests in Christian Münzner (Obscura, Spawn of Possession) and Bobby Koelble (Death). Each of them plays a solo on a track.
The music on "Obsolescence" is technically well played and relatively brutal death metal. Especially the rather monotone and one-dimensional growling vocals point in the direction of brutal death metal, while the instrumental part of the music is a bit more technical and sophisticated. The musicianship is generally on a high level, with energetic precision rhythm work and fast-paced guitar riffs and solos.
The material on the 10 track, 48:00 minutes long album is well written and relatively memorable, but as with all previous releases by Abysmal Dawn the music on the album lacks an original sound. This is pretty much technically well played US death metal played by the book. The musicianship, the sound production, and the basic songwriting, are all top notch, but the fact that the band after four albums still hasn´t created a more personal sound is a bit of an issue.
So upon conclusion I have mixed feelings about "Obsolescence", which as mentioned above is a high quality death metal release by Abysmal Dawn, but at the same time drowns a bit among the other output on the scene because it isn´t distinct sounding enough. I´ll try and be objective about it though and quality wise "Obsolescence" does deserve a 3.5 - 4 star (75%) rating.