Obsidious - Iconic (2022)

Spanning back in 2020 out of ex members of Obscura, Obsidious is one of those bands that perfectly combines technical wizardry with solid songwriting to craft unique songs that are brilliant in both departments, not just one of the two like tons of other bands. Unleashing over 53 minutes of music, some might expect just another version of Obscura, but the band is far from this as it feels more like a mixture of Scar Symmetry, older Soilwork, some of the pace of Persefone, with some Cynic sprinkles. If you are a fan of the genre, you should better keep an eye out for these guys.

The release opens with the imposing “Under Black Skies” and its pretty brutal delivery of multiple styles of harsh vocals alongside punishing riffs and crushing drums courtesy of Sebastian Lanser. The mood quickly changes and becomes more dynamic as the soaring clean vocals change the tempo a bit. The band’s sound is quite well crafted as it is never too linear and keeps throwing things at the listeners to keep them guessing as one can appreciate from tracks like “Sense of Lust”, “Iconic” and “Bound By Fire”.

One of our favorite songs has to be the superbly crafty “Iconic”, thanks to its tempo changes. Band members like Linus Klausenitzer need no introduction and you can instantly see his imprint on the crafty bass guitar lines throughout this whole release. The band does a great job in keeping things fresh as some use of synths like on “I Am”, even reminded us of Fleshgod Apocalypse for some moments. On the other side of the spectrum pieces like “Lake Of Afterlife” have that old-school Soilwork vibe that we love from that band, but with the Obsidious signature carved inside.

As a whole, “Iconic” is a truly engaging release that stays fresh from start to finish and that most of the experimentation the band tries works wonders in each song. We are impressed at the number of influences they managed to condense in a very cohesive way, without ever abusing their technical prowess too much. If you are into crafty, heavy, highly melodic, and very dynamic Death Metal with plenty of clean vocals, this album will certainly become one of your favorites of 2022.

Label: Season of Mist

Release: October 28th, 2022

Genre: Technical/Progressive Death Metal

Country: International