ICONOCLASM — Obscurity (review)

ICONOCLASM — Obscurity album cover Demo · 1992 · Death Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
UMUR
"Obscurity" is a demo cassette tape by Danish, Esbjerg based death metal act Iconoclasm released in 1992. It was the band´s sole release. There were quite a few active bands on the Danish death metal scene in the early to mid nineties, but only a few of them actually got signed and released albums. Iconoclasm has as many other Danish death metal acts from that time remained in obscurity. Maybe some death metal aficionados recognise the name of Iconoclasm guitarist Lars Bangsholt because of his participation on the "A Serenade of Agony (1992)" album by Maceration. A band that also featured Invocator members Jacob Hansen and Jakob Schultz, and Dan Swanö (Edge of Sanity, Bloodbath, Witherscape, Unicorn, Nightingale...among others) working under his pseudonym Day Disyraah. But then again Maceration wasn´t exactly a high profile death metal act either, even though it featured some pretty prolific members in the lineup.

"Obscurity" is mastered by Jacob Hansen (and I think he also performs a guest scream somewhere on the demo) and considering that this is a demo release from the early nineties, the sound production is of a relatively high quality. It´s dark, gloomy, and raw, but all instruments and vocals are clear in the mix.

The music on the 4 track (the opener is an intro), 18:14 minutes long demo is doomy death metal with the occasional faster part thrown in. The music is predominantly very, VERY heavy though. Crushingly brutal slow riffing and deep growling vocals, but rather energetic drumming, which drives the music forward. The band also incorporates the rare use of keyboards, which provides the music with variation and an epic touch. Iconoclasm are competent musicians and the music is as a consequence well played.

"Obscurity" is of such high quality that it could well have led to an album deal. I don´t know the reasons that it didn´t happen, but do yourself a favor and seek out the demo if you enjoy really heavy death metal, because this is a demo release worth your time. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
siLLy puPPy wrote:
more than 2 years ago
Thanks for the recommendation :)
UMUR wrote:
more than 2 years ago
If anyone is interested then this demo and many other Danish demos are legally available for free at this location: http://www.danishdemodungeon.dk/

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

The Goblin Sessions Heavy Metal
THEM
Buy this album from MMA partners
Tormenta De Arena Metalcore
VORAGO
Buy this album from MMA partners
Infinite Metalcore
FUTURE GHOST
Buy this album from MMA partners
Heretic Melodic Death Metal
SUNCINDER
Buy this album from MMA partners
The Skull Burned Wearing Hell Like A Life Vest As The Night Wept Mathcore
FRONTIERER
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

Future Ghost - Wolves (Official Music Video)
FUTURE GHOST
Bosh66· 1 day ago
Future Ghost - Nemesis Game (Official Music Video)
FUTURE GHOST
Bosh66· 1 day ago
Harrowed TwentyTenVideo
HARROWED
Bosh66· 3 days ago
Sunmancer - Realms of Dilemma (Official Visualizer)
SUNMANCER
Bosh66· 8 days ago
Sunmancer - Lower Cavalier (Official Visualizer)
SUNMANCER
Bosh66· 8 days ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed