Not long ago most of us death-nerds found ourselves listening to the new Obscura record. ‘A Valediction’ came out in a particularly busy release week alongside other names such as Adele, Converge and Chelsea Wolfe, Exodus, Swallow The Sun, Pathology and many others. Naturally I thought we’d make the band’s release week just a little busier and singled out Obscura personality, head-honcho and guitarist, Steffen Kummerer.

Here’s how it went.

Hello, Steffen, and welcome to the obscure reaches of the internet we like to call Sputnikmusic[dot]com. We’re home to a myriad of peoples and argue constantly over which albums are the best of their respective years — sometimes we even agree. Maybe you’ve heard of the site before?

There is nothing better than arguing about which band, album or song might be better than anything else with people you don’t even know. Yes, I am aware of the page and especially the well-written reviews on Sputnikmusic.

While the site looks like it hasn’t crawled out of the early-to-mid 2000s we at least try to keep up with as much modern music as we can get our fingertips to. Some of us feel quite spoiled with the quality of music being released during 2021. Are there any releases that have tickled your fancy this year?

Every year, new great albums see the light of day. In 2021, Hypocrisy, Nestor, Unanimated, Archspire, Lucifer and many more released new records I listen to constantly. A while back I created my very own playlist to keep track of new releases and classics I heavily (sic) recommend. Here you’ll find the playlist METAL21 on Spotify:

How about something minus the death growls and blast beats? One of our resident staff writers/moderators will occasionally swap indie-folk pop for surprising extreme metal releases. Is there anything outside of the more extreme metal genres that you would heap praise on?

I recommend Italian duo Colapesce with their album I Mortali². Great music and attitude.

I guess the short version of this is: When you’re the ‘fan’ and not a musician, what does the mighty Steffen Kummerer listen to?

Dividing “being a fan” from “being a musician” means you lost the grid and love because you became a musician in the very beginning. Today I started this lovely morning with Dismember, went on with Jamiroquai and listen[ed] to Death while answering your interview.

‘Valediction’ loosely translates to an act of ‘farewell’ or ‘saying goodbye’ and yet the new album marks as much about beginnings as it covers the prospect of separation. It’s early days, but is there any indication at this stage what concepts or themes music in the future will take? Or can we expect a nice long rest (read: touring schedule) before Obscura even thinks about a studio again?

A Valediction marks the beginning of a new long-lasting series of concept albums. This time a trilogy with two more albums to be released within the upcoming years. We just announced a massive touring schedule that covers North America and Europe while we work on more concerts around the globe. In early 2019, we got the chance to perform in Australia and New Zealand for the very first time — something I would love to see repeated more regularly. We expect to tour for the next three years supporting A Valediction and discover countries we haven’t visited yet. It is just too early to think about new music while we shifted our mindset towards the stage for the upcoming months.

Why A Valediction in the first place? How does this interpret for you and your bandmates? Will your listeners relate or is there a sense of individual meaning to be unearthed from tracks like “Forsaken”, “The Beyond” or “In Adversity”?

Obscura just finished a long-lasting series of albums that took us 10 years to finish. We changed the producer, record label, lineup, and cover artist. Therefore, the name was obvious. As a rather bitter side note, the album deals with the loss of friends, family members, musicians and similar situations that occurred during the last years. A farewell can open new doors and does not need to be negative in general.

You’ve been the driving force behind Obscura for roughly two decades now, but the band has seen a fair share of lineup changes and returns from members from different musical eras. Given that so much of your music is released as series, either trilogies or even larger concepts, how important is it to find a natural consistency to songwriting, often between differing musicians? Or does this help with the growth and progressive experimentations between albums?

Yes, I am the sole founding member that never changed attitude, direction and kept the band going — through good and bad times. These days, more than ever, you need balls of steel and iron will to keep a professional touring band alive –- no matter what music you play. With Obscura, I follow a certain route and if you want to be part of it you are welcome and join, if you want to pursue other endeavors, go ahead. Each album sees a result in collective work, but you need one person that leads the direction and make decisions.

I’ve been blasting the new album (work/home/travel) since it was released on Friday [and if any of my colleagues are reading this I’m still not sorry], but I find it comparatively more organic than the last couple of Obscura albums. Sure, there’s all the shred and progressive earmarks that make Obscura… well, Obscura but how was the writing process and did it help having these older faces return to do what they do best? How much did everyone contribute and were there any particular styles you tried to emulate?

A Valediction was meant to work in a live situation, starting from the first note being composed until the very last arrangement of the album. That was our point to start. We all contributed and wrote the album as a band, as well as all previous records. While a production always starts with the music, songs and arrangement, we aimed for a more fluid album which opened the door for a rather organic production. The production is connected to a big picture with lyrics being more digestible, an artwork drawn by hand and well-structured music. We wanted to unfold the human approach of the band more than ever. We do not need to show off or prove our abilities as musicians since we do not make music for musicians.

As mentioned in the very beginning, you need to be a fan of this kind of music yourself to fully enjoy what you are doing. If you don’t like death metal, don’t join a death metal band. If you love to play live shows, come up with music that fits to this approach. Working with the two returning members as well as our new face in the band turned out great since we know each other, we know where to put focus within the songs, we know how to communicate. We simply enjoyed making music together. I’m sure you can feel the excitement we had during writing and producing this album when you listen to the record from front to end.

Where do the featured artists fit into this recipe? What was it like working with the likes of Soilwork frontman Björn Strid?

Björn is a gifted musician and great singer. His work with Soilwork and The Night Flight Orchestra has been outstanding for years. It turned out to be one of those spontaneous moments that Björn joined us for the album. Fredrik Nordström, our producer, came up with the idea when we discussed the songs before recording every day. Within three days Björn delivered his performance and I am pleased to have him as guest on A Valediction.

Circling back to the music we listen to: Sputnikmusic user and all-round good guy [probably] Assemblage recently started a poll on the site. Assemblage asks quite simply: “What’s the best death metal debut album?” and asks the community to provide their top two picks. Currently Cynic’s Focus and Demilich’s Nespithe are leading this unofficial tally, while debut albums from the likes of Suffocation and Dismember have received some additional votes. In the name of ‘community spirit’ I ask you the same question: “What’s the best death metal debut album?” (Provide two answers if you can).

Dissection – The Somberlian & Cynic – Focus.

Thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to answer these questions for me. I know release week can be a hectic time for musicians. Hopefully this valediction will turn into more greetings in the near future. When you guys figure out your Australian tour schedules make sure you guys detour into our wine country so I can cook you up some of my gnocchi.

A pleasure talking to you and the gentle users of Sputnikmusic. We hope the world will brighten up and once that happens, we would love to come back down under and play shows across the country.

Thank you for the interview & see you soon,

Steffen Kummerer.

Physical sales link: https://www.jbhifi.com.au/products/cd-obscura-a-valediction-cd

Digital sales link: https://bfan.link/Obscura

TheNotrap’s review for ‘A Valediction’

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