GORGUTS — Obscura (review)

Album · 1998 · Technical Death Metal

1.5/5 · 2012-01-28
Wilytank

Don't you just hate it when an album that people can't stop whoring about turns out to be a load of shit? Case in point: Gorguts' 'Obscura'. "If you do not like this album, you are not a fan of death metal." said one guy somewhere. Yeah, I don't think that my liking of Bolt Thrower, Immolation, and more is all for naught for me hating on this terrible, overrated album. It's not intriguingly intelligent. It's not headbangingly awesome. It's not even dark or disturbing. It's just fucking annoying.

Let me tell you what guitar wankery is. Guitar wankery is when you try to write and play your guitar riffs making them sound all technical and challenging but forget to make them actually interesting to listen to. 'Obscura' is filled with so much guitar wankery that the guitarists might as well be shoving their dicks through the guitar strings, and it is this blight that takes this album furthest toward the wrong direction if Gorguts wanted to make an album that was truly interesting. When there are songs that actually do have riffs that are somewhat interesting such as the post metalesque "Nostalgia" or the doomier "Clouded", you can rest assured that there will be plenty of wankery added to the song to level it all out. And the funny thing is that people say that it's the vocals that are the weakest part as if good vocals made any difference in death metal.

The other bad thing about this album is that it's an hour long. This review may have been (slightly) higher if Gorguts decided to cut a few songs and make the album less than 40 minutes. If they cooled it with the incessant wankery, maybe they would make the hour long trek less irritating. Sitting through this album as it stands isn't going to produce any memorable moments. It's just going to make you want to bash your head in.

The little melodic aspects that actually are existent in some of the songs, post metal vibes on "Nostalgia", and even the slower "Clouded" are simply not enough to save this album from the singularity of terribleness. Everyone knows of releases that leave listeners wanting something more; but here with 'Obscura', I'm left wanting less. This guitar wankery (used for the whogivesafuck-tienth time) makes this album so irritating that certain Merzbow pieces look like the best pieces of music in the world in comparison. So, no. I do not want something more. I just want to stop remembering.

more than 2 years ago
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siLLy puPPy wrote:

more than 2 years ago

He's funny when trashing an album but seriously doesn't understand more complex music. You can't listen to a prog masterpiece like Obscura a single time and think you can understand it. It's like taking a calculus class without ever having taken algebra! I get prog isn't everybody's cup of tea but to me such reviews only show laziness in actually trying to review the music at hand and showing one's limited perceptions in various forms of music. Sorry if i sound like a snob but i didn't like the album the first time around either. It was a grower that took many years to sink in. I'm always up to a challenge though and understand instant gratification is the American way for many!

Unitron wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Wilytank's the hero this site needs, but doesn't deserve. One of the most entertaining writers on music ever. I re-read that Haken review all the time, hands down the greatest review ever written.

Tupan wrote:

more than 2 years ago

What happened to Willytank? He was an expert in this kind of review!

Vim Fuego wrote:

more than 2 years ago

siLLy puPPy wrote:

more than 2 years ago

You guys just don't get it!

Vim Fuego wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Now that I've finally listened to it, this is the most appropriate review here. Really clever and skillful, but fuck listening to it ever again!

bartosso wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Oh man, and I thought my reviews were edgy :D Awesome read, keep it up!

Unitron wrote:

more than 2 years ago

I haven't heard this particular album, but I have heard Colored Sands and the first two albums. I can't say I care much for the former, but Considered Dead is a great classic death metal album.

UMUR wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Well at least for historical value it´s an album worth checking out, as it´s one of the seminal death metal releases going Down the dissonant chord road.

Vim Fuego wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Wow, scathing review! Gorguts is a band I've never really liked much, but now I want to check this out just to see if it really is as bad as this review says!

Fant0mas wrote:

more than 2 years ago

You're entitled to dislike any album. I just don't think it really brings something to the table to write stupid stuff like "the guitarists might as well be shoving their dicks through the guitar strings". That just sounds like my 8 yr old nepehew man.. Grow up.

IMPF wrote:

more than 2 years ago

This is could very well be the best review I've ever read on the Internet.

Wilytank wrote:

more than 2 years ago

"wank wank WANK wank wank WANK"

Triceratopsoil wrote:

more than 2 years ago

I just like the guitar tones C:

Time Signature wrote:

more than 2 years ago

In any case, all those "if you don't like X, then you're not a Y metal fan" statements are bullshit. I totally agree with that aspect of the review.

UMUR wrote:

more than 2 years ago

This is one of the most influential death metal albums. All those dissonant sounding death and black metal acts on the scene today are in some way influenced by this album. I understand why some people don´t like it, but it´s a "classic" none the less.

The Angry Scotsman wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Agreed man, this album gets so much praise and while I DO understand it I hate this album.
Like 97% of technical metal it is very impressive but just not good music, and so much of it also has to be the most br00tal thing ever. Atheist does it right.
9000 notes a minute and technical skill can be done well but often its not!