Review Summary: Forging a new path.
Since 2002 Obscura have been the mainstay of the technical death metal community and whether you love or hate their style, Obscura’s amalgamation of style has made for some interesting music over the years. Nineteen years after Obscura’s debut,
Retribution, a host of line-up changes and a couple of peak death metal records later (
Akróasis,
A Valediction) the new line-up would unveil
A Sonication. It’s ironic that Obscura’s newest offering would have a title resembling a mechanical process in ultrasonic cleaning. By definition, the act of
sonification comes from loosening particles adhering to surfaces. Is this a quip at the revolving door of musicians who list this particular death metal act to the footnote of their respective resumes or rather a nod to the alleged drama surrounding frontman Stephen’s loosening morals, musical theft and plagiarism from ex-members? It’s only speculation until it’s not.
It has little to no bearing on the end result here.
A Sonication instead leans into a more melodic, albeit simple branding of bombastic technical Obscura soundscapes. In terms of Obscura-gone-by,
A Sonication does feel like a band loosening the framework into something that could be considered Obscura-by-numbers, or Obscura-lite. That’s not a dig, not in the traditional sense, but the speculation here is that maybe Stephen and the new hires maybe rushed into the studio, didn’t spend enough time putting on the ol’ Obscura polish and maybe even had to um… borrow an idea or two to get the new album over the line.
A Sonication isn’t truly offensive, but it does lack the lustre of
A Valediction before it.
The “Silver Linings” of new Obscura music powers on. A pleasant enough opening: driving enough of the previous album’s motif to indicate that the band’s newest has enough steam to power along by itself. If anything, this track, alongside “Evenfall” and “In Solitude” hint at a return to Obscura’s formative years—melodeath floating through the very veins of this less than clinical approach to riff writing and polarizing lead work. Obscura sound placated by the very fact that
A Sonication circles back almost twenty years both in writing and in production sound. Fairly, there’s something to be said for a less surgical Obscura. Maybe it’s part of the group’s internal evolution, but there’s something more organic to their approach in 2025. Personally, I’d welcome that, if the music was a little more fleshed out. “In Solitude” sounds punchy enough, but the longer “Evenfall” or “Stardust” get caught up, muddied by its production. While
A Sonication itself is inoffensive, it’s certainly flaccid, limp and a shadow of a band really on the cusp of achieving greatness over and over again.
Deeper cuts only accentuate the issues on hand here. There’s a lot to digest, after all it is an Obscura record but amongst all the attempts at the typical Obscura greatness is a simplicity, a foundation of almost melodic death metal, blurred riffs and instrumental sonic reprisals (“Beyond The Seventh Son”). Even still, there’s something to be had from tracks like “Stardust” or “The Sun Eater” that show promise. Here, if nowhere else on
A Sonication does the grit of Obscura’s newest direction really take hold. Long time fans may disagree here, but this is the most convincing change to be had from the new record—even as it directly calls back to most of the discography. That said, Obscura’s overall pedigree is on trial now. Whether or not the claims of musical theft are factual or coincidence. Where Steffen Kummerer takes this death metal vehicle is much of a question as who rides with him.
A Sonication is a culmination of ideas, of change—but not convincingly meshed together.
