Review Summary: "DEATH metal?! Moar like DEAF metal, because it's so NOISY!"
- My Mother
With the sheer number of death and deathcore bands active in todays scene, it's unlikely that many newcomers will achieve anything particularly revolutionary or mind-blowing in the genre. The Obscene are no exception, but don't let that put you off of their first release, because there's still plenty to enjoy here.
Although consisting of eleven tracks, 'The Torment Of Sinners' is actually two E.P's joined together, with the five "bonus" tracks being material from 'Destroying The Heavens', an E.P originally released by members of the band earlier, under the name Salutethesun.
In their own words, The Obscene describe their sound as "raw, ugly, blasphemous and uncompromising old school death metal". Being something of a novice to the genre, I can't personally vouch for this "old school" claim. But what I can tell you is, 'The Torment Of Sinners' IS raw, ugly and blasphemous. Don't expect to be blown away. After all, this is pretty straightforward stuff - but it's still heavy, it's still brootal and it's still metuhl as hell.
After a short instrumental intro, 'Embrace Oblivion' kicks off with a roar and a crash. Guttural growls and clattering drums pave the unholy road travelled countless times before by the disaffected headbanger, leading to a fairly short but very cool guitar solo. The next few songs chug along respectably, but it's probably the shorter, minus-two minute numbers like 'Skiprat Jane' and the Jack Nicholson-sampling 'Grim Discovery' that most effectively bring the brutality. Lyrically, how can you compete with the classic hatred of lines like: "You filthy ***ing bitch! Enjoying what you do!"
My biggest compliment for this collection is probably that (with an exception or two) the band manages to bring variation to the structure of each song, avoiding the "Just Noise" trap that extreme metal can often fall prey to. For example, P.S.A.S is an excellent track, which slows things down without compromising a drop of its agression. It could well be my favourite song here.
As this collection is built from two seperately composed halves, its inconsistency is undeniable. The production on the 'Destroying The Heavens' portion of the E.P sounds much thinner, the drumming and guitar work sounding a bit tinny in the mix, with vocals taking dominance. The instrumentation is still very good though, with no shortage of variation. These later tracks are much more melodic overall than the six new ones, and I think I prefer them.
In conclusion, The Obscene delivers a solidly entertaining E.P which promises good things for their full-length debut next year. If you're on the lookout for no-frills, straight-foward death metal, 'The Torment Of Sinners' shouldn't dissapoint.
Recomended tracks:
Embrace Oblivion
Skiprat Jane
P.S.A.S
Destroying The Heavens
