UMUR
"Damnations Pride" is a compilation albm release by Swedish thrash/proto-death metal act Obscurity. The compilation was released in 1998 through Scarlet Records. It features all recorded material by Obscurity from the years 1986-1992. Obscurity formed in 1985 and released the "Ovations to Death" (December 1986) demo and the "Damnations Pride" (December 1987) demo before disbanding in 1988. They shortly reunited in 1992 and released a two-song demo, but they soon split-up again.
The tracklist is not presented in chronological order as it opens with the four tracks from the "Damnations Pride" demo, followed by the two tracks from the 1992 demo, and concludes with the six tracks from the "Ovations to Death" demo.
The material from both of the 80s demos are absolutely scorching and brutal thrash metal, which border death-thrash metal, and although the sound production of the material from "Ovations to Death" is a bit rough around the edges, the tracks still shine and have great impact. The four tracks from the "Damnations Pride" demo are great quality thrash metal featuring a slightly more clear sounding production. So far so good...unfortunately the two tracks from the 1992 demo disrupts the flow of the compilation and the otherwise great quality of the material. They should definitely have placed those tracks last on the compilation, as they are in a slightly different style and features some pretty powerful hardcore/crossover influenced vocals, which doesn´t sit well with the caustic snarl of the remaining tracks. A 3 - 3.5 star (65%) rating is warranted.