PESTILENCE — Obsideo (review)

Album · 2013 · Death Metal

4/5 · 2014-03-16
UMUR

"Obsideo" is the 7th full-length studio album by technical/progressive death metal act Pestilence. The album was released through Candlelight Records in November 2013. It´s the band´s third album release since they released "Resurrection Macabre (2009)" after a 16 years long break in recording activities. In trademark Pestilence style, none of their releases sound alike and it´s always with some hesitation and fear that you put on a new album from the band.

As it turns out "Obsideo" only partially continues the trend of sounding different from it´s predecessor as there are more similarities between "Doctrine (2011)" and "Obsideo" than there probably are between any other Pestilence albums released after each other. It´s more an overall aestethic though, than it is a similarity in sound and songwriting approach. Stylistically the music on "Obsideo" is technical death metal with the occasional progressive element thrown in. The jazzy guitar solos are the most dominant progressive trait on the album, but the songwriting is also unconventional at times. Pestilence successfully balance the more headbanger friendly death metal moments with technical and progressive sections, that provide the album with an adventurous sound. Fans of more traditional death metal shouldn´t worry too much though as there are plenty of blast beats, death/thrashy riffing and crushingly heavy riff sections in the music to compliment the more sophisticated moments. The use of dissonance, which was also a relatively dominant feature on "Doctrine (2011)", is also an element of the sound on "Obsideo".

Patrick Mameli has always sounded a bit like Chuck Schuldiner (Death, Control Denied) "lite" (and mostly with great success I might add) and the same can be said about his vocal performance on "Obsideo". After the caustic vocal performance he delivered on "Doctrine (2011)", his performance here is a bit more restrained though. Still powerful and raw, but not as intense and passionate as his performance on the predecessor. New drummer David Haley (Psycroptic, The Amenta, Ruins, Blood Duster), who replaces Yuma van Eekelen, is on fire throughout the album. A greatly skilled drummer who is capable of driving the music forward in an incredibly powerful way (not that his predecessor had any trouble doing that). Bassist Georg Maier is new in the lineup too. He replaces Jeroen Paul Thesseling. Maier is a slightly less extraordinary bassist than Thesseling is, but he is skilled enough.

The material are generally well written ("Necromorph" is a highlight to my ears) and the organic sound production on "Obsideo" is professional. Paired with the excellent musicianship we have a quality release on our hands. Pestilence have twisted their sound just enough for "Obsideo" to stand out as an individual entity in their discography and while it´s not the band´s most original or unique sounding release it´s still a very enjoyable and strong album deserving a 4 star (80%) rating.