Obscura - Cosmogenesis review
| Band: | Obscura |
| Album: | Cosmogenesis |
| Style: | Progressive death metal, Technical death metal |
| Release date: | February 2009 |
01. Anticosmic Overload
02. Choir Of Spirits
03. Universe Momentum
04. Incarnated
05. Orbital Elements
06. Desolate Spheres
07. Infinite Rotation
08. Noospheres
09. Cosmogenesis
10. Centric Flow
Got the cd in my hands and the bandname tips its hat to a classic Gorguts album, the logo is reminiscent of the classic Obituary logo and the cover art is futuristic depicting something cosmological. Conclusion: This must be a technical death metal band. And, lo and behold, it is. What band and album am I talking about? Obscura's sophomore album Cosmogenesis, of course.
First off, it is almost impossible to compare Cosmogenesis to the band's debut Retribution because only guitarist/vocalist Steffen Kummerer is stilll present in the current line-up. But just looking at the line-up that recorded Cosmogenesis will be enough to make your average tech death metal drool. Because what have we here? Christian Muenzer on guitars and Hannes Grossmann on drums, both ex-Necrophagist and, damn, are my eyes deceiving me? Nope, they aren't. Cosmogenesis sees the return of fretless bass master Jeroen Paul Thesseling to the realms of metal. How have I missed that man's bass playing ever since he starred on Pestilence's Spheres
Such a line-up can, of course, turn out utterly brilliant or a complete failure. For me a failure would be an album sounding like Necrophagist's technical death metal wankery for showing-off sake where the focus on proper song-writing has been totally lost. But thank God they have been merciful on me, cause one thing Cosmogenesis does feature is proper songs that consist of a head and a tail.
Proceedings do start off with, what can be regarded as, the weakest song of the album. "Anticosmic Overload" is a quite generic death metal tune which is full of shredding and is only lifted above average by JPT's incredible fretless bass playing. His bass playing, is without a doubt, the highlight of the album. DiGiorgio, Webster et. al. move over for the one and only true master of death metal bass. Jeroen utilises his bass in most cases as a solo instrument and not just as a rhythmic device. The production really does accentuate that as well placing it nice and prominently in the mix.
Come track number two "Choir Of Spirits" Obscura starts to show more of an own identity although it keeps on reminding me of Cynic's "Veil Of Maya". But that must certainly be due to the use of a vocoder here. And checking the liner notes it shows that Tymon Kruidenier of Cynic is featured on this song. Being a young (except Jeoren that is) band some influences are bound to shine through. As is also the case with "Incarnated" which comes across as a tribute to later era Death.
Apart from Tymon guesting on this album we also see Ron Jarzombek of Spastic Ink fame guest. His guitar skills can be admired in the title track "Cosmosgenesis".
Cosmogenesis is over before the listener notices it. That is a major strength of the album cause it makes you play it again immediately upon termination. Ten songs in all and all short enough to keep you focused. And a total sigh of relief on my part for it not containing any pointless showing off and wankery. Every single instrument plays in service of the song proper.
In conclusion one can say this is one mighty impressive album which any self-respecting fan of technical death metal should get, or at least give a fair try. But beware... if you prefer instrumental wankery where all sight of a proper song is lost such as Necrophagist lets loose upon the world then Cosmogenesis is most probably lost on you.
The strong point of Cosmogenesis are its songs which flow naturally and have a cool groove to them. And the major highlight of the album is totally Jeroen's incredible bass playing. A minor setback, to this otherwise wonderful album, is that it clearly showcases the band's influences thus taking away from its originality. But I am sure that come next album the influences will have diminished almost totally.
Comments
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Comments: 44
Visited by: 551 users
| Shadowcross The Summoner Posts: 481  |
Great review... couldn't agree more. Jeroen's playing is so creative on this record and is the highlight. Everything comes together perfectly. Paying homage to the earlier stuff yet done in a way which none could call unoriginal. Exceptional technical death album.
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| BitterCOld The Ancient One admin Posts: 15250  |
I am inrtigued.
---- get the fuck off my lawn. Beer Bug Virus Spotify Playlist crafted by Nikarg and I. Feel free to tune in and add some pertinent metal tunes!
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| Bigpaul Posts: 74  |
About time a review on this went up.....thanks, its an excellent album. Noospheres is the only weak track imho. Listened to this album loads of times over the last couple of months and I keep picking up on things I haven't noticed before! Great variety on here. I agree with the review, the bands influences are quite clear but I'm already looking forward to the followup to this when they will hopefully hone their own sound. great musicianship, great variety, great songs....'nuff said! Centric Flow is a great album closer, the riff in the second half of the song stuck in my head for ages after I heard it!
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| Deadmeat Necrobutcher Posts: 2437  |
Written by Bigpaul on 16.06.2009 at 23:24 i totaly agree with those 2 things you said. this album is great but i've not heard it so much till now. so when i'll finish it's listening i'll come back!!! nice review btw but it should say imo that about variety. this album is one of the most "unboring" albums i've ever heard cause it has a great variety. no same-style songs... and this is too fucking important nowadays when we see many bands repeating themselves in every song...
---- Υou've sold your human essence to the cold world of dead and empty things... You're SOLD!
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| K✞ulu Seeker of Truth Posts: 2570  |
Anticosmic Overload is "a quite generic death metal tune?" Either the whole genre has missed my ears or you're out of your mind. That song is so not generic and it's so much more than just death metal. It's so captivating that no wonder why they put it up as track 1. And I actually think that it's the best song on the album. 
---- Savor what you feel and what you see Things that may not seem important now But may be tomorrow R.I.P. Chuck Schuldiner Satan was a Backstreet Boy
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| Galar Wicked Mung Posts: 598  |
Great review as always
---- YOUR ARGUMENT IS INVALID, SUCK A DICK
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| BloodTears ANA-thema elite Posts: 11835  |
They also remind me of Death and Cynic. I thought about that since the first listen. But with all those recognizable sounds there, they still managed to do their thing and put out a very good album. It's powerful and, I must say, after a few listens, catchy. Very headbangable and air-guitar possibilities everywhere. I really like the vocals and the lyrical compositions as well. Obscura won me over with this album, it's certainly one of the best albums of the year I listened to so far and from a genre I have been neglecting. It's good to be back.
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| Elio Red Nightmare Posts: 4920  |
It's not original anymore but still kicks ass. I agree with Marcel, the bass is quite surely the best played instrument in this album and probably gives something more in terms of quality.
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| X-Ray Rod Skandino staff Posts: 18274  |
Nice review... Although I dislike the fact that you picked on Necrophagist. It's not like "if you like this band your an asshole and cannot like great bands". Awesome music though. But I see must of the technical metal as something awesome for the first hour then it turns boring. Although this band is kinda interesting.
---- Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29 Written by Milena on 20.06.2012 at 10:49
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| Marcel Hubregtse Grumpy Old Fuck elite Posts: 40071  |
Written by X-Ray Rod on 17.06.2009 at 13:56 I picked on Necrophagist cause they loose sight of proper song structures and go off into wanking territory and are there just to show off. I didn't say " "if you like this band your an asshole and cannot like great bands". I merely said if you really dig Necrophagist you will probably not be too fond of Obscura. Because Obscura is about proper song writing and not wanking 
---- Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.) 05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996 
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| X-Ray Rod Skandino staff Posts: 18274 |
Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 17.06.2009 at 14:11 That's what I'm talking about! It's not like that! It's not like just for listening to necrophagist you're a dude that just likes guitarr pornography. That's just stereotype tbh. [although I've seen dudes like that so I dig what you're saying] In any case... I see Tech Death pretty much as prog metal... good music but not a single drop of emotions. And then those dues tell me that Doom is boring as fuck...
---- Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29 Written by Milena on 20.06.2012 at 10:49
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| Marcel Hubregtse Grumpy Old Fuck elite Posts: 40071 |
Written by K✞ulu on 17.06.2009 at 07:18 Maybe "generic" is too strong a word in this context. But what I meant was that it is quite a standard technical death metal song and by far not as interesting as the other songs on Cosmogenesis.
---- Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.) 05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996
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| jupitreas hi-fi / lo-life staff Posts: 6659  |
Lol Marcel, could your nose be any further planted in Jeroen's rectum? Sounds like you have a crush on the man
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| Marcel Hubregtse Grumpy Old Fuck elite Posts: 40071 |
Written by jupitreas on 17.06.2009 at 15:05 Hahahaha you should see my arm instead I will take a picture of it and send it to you.But I see what you mean, all this lavish praise on his bass playing. But as anyone who has heard this album can attest to the bass playing is actually the strongest point of the album, and he does blow so-called bass gods right out off the water 
---- Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.) 05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996
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| Visioneerie Urban Monster Posts: 810  |
Written by X-Ray Rod on 17.06.2009 at 14:19 I disagree, tech death can hold some emotion. It may be more subtle because of the complex instrumentation but emotions are there nonetheless. It's more a question of taste, i'm not a big fan of doom, i find it drags on and if it could get any slower my heart would probably stop beating. I like music that gives me a heart attack lol. Though i really like bands like Pelican, Isis, Baroness... life is complicated. anyways good review, i was impressed by the cd on the first few listens really good songwriting and EMOTION put into the songs. the production is crystal clear but the problem is the lack of heaviness and this is the only thing that turned me off.
---- Any man can stand adversity, but to test his character give him power - A. Lincoln
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| X-Ray Rod Skandino staff Posts: 18274 |
Written by Visioneerie on 17.06.2009 at 18:12 We agree to disagree and that's fair enough for me .I mean... sure I do understand why the genre is praised and I love the songwritting. I just happen to pick other genres more often 
---- Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29 Written by Milena on 20.06.2012 at 10:49
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| skrätte I Hate You Posts: 78  |
Great review. Cosmogenesis is a great album. Not my favorite of the year, but in the top 5, so far... and it's growing on me with every listen. The first time I gave it a run through, it seemed to end abruptly and I thought, "is that it? I need to listen to it again." And I did just that. You were dangerously close to overusing the word "wank" in all its various forms, but just when I thought I couldn't take anymore, you ceased. Whether intentional or by accident, your usage was masterful. Yep.
---- 
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| Deadmeat Necrobutcher Posts: 2437 |
Written by Visioneerie on 17.06.2009 at 18:12 you are absolutely right but i guess that it's the production that "creates" this problem as it makes the blastbeats and generally the fast moments much more neutral than extreme...
---- Υou've sold your human essence to the cold world of dead and empty things... You're SOLD!
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| nb Posts: 248  |
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| Dangerboner Lactation Cnslt Posts: 7262  |
I also hate the first track - it's just boring and unoriginal. The album gets better as it goes on, but I don't seem to be as impressed as most people seem. Not surprising since I normally hate prog/tech death, but for some reason I thought it would be better.
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| Stigmatized .......... Posts: 3820  |
Written by Dangerboner on 19.06.2009 at 02:59 I wasn't impressed either. It's a solid album, but nothing extraordinary.
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| Marcel Hubregtse Grumpy Old Fuck elite Posts: 40071 |
Written by Stigmatized on 19.06.2009 at 06:18 You can't deny the bassplaying is something else on this album. Hell, non-one currently even comes close in death metal
---- Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.) 05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996
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| Dangerboner Lactation Cnslt Posts: 7262 |
I'm no musician, but I would say that Erlend Caspersen at least comes close, but that's off topic. Besides the bass playing, I really enjoy the melodic side they show later on the album, which you also mentioned before, but I still think they tried to play too fancy.
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| Marcel Hubregtse Grumpy Old Fuck elite Posts: 40071 |
Written by Dangerboner on 23.06.2009 at 09:41 And that is where I totally disagree cause I felt that they tried to keep it quite simple and not show off too much, unlike a lot of bands operating in this genre.
---- Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.) 05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996
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| Deadmeat Necrobutcher Posts: 2437 |
Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 23.06.2009 at 11:48 agree here. Incarnated is for example a great MELODIC song but it must be from what i can understand one of the easiest on the album musically...
---- Υou've sold your human essence to the cold world of dead and empty things... You're SOLD!
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| Stigmatized .......... Posts: 3820 |
Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 23.06.2009 at 02:12 Obviously the bass playing is good, but for whatever reason it didn't jump out at me.
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| Fat & Sassy! elite Posts: 3857  |
Written by Dangerboner on 23.06.2009 at 09:41 I agree. It probably because I don't really listen to a lot of this stuff, but it kinda bores me. I don't really understand how bands like Dream Theater can be considered musically wankery and this isn't. And I'm not really fond of the growls either.
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| lord artan Posts: 297  |
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| MeloDeathViking Posts: 514  |
Could of sworn that I commented on this album, guess not. I'm not usually a fan of technical death metal slbums, but this one blew me away. The one song that really stood out to me is Orbital Elements, it's one of the best instrumental tracks I've heard. It actually has great substance too it. I know there are a lot of good instumental tracks out there, but I dont consider there to be too many excellent ones, but I definitly think Orbital Elements hits the excellent mark.
---- "I am not superstitious, but I'm a little 'stitious." - Michael Scott
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| Deadmeat Necrobutcher Posts: 2437 |
Well now that i've completed the listening of this album i have to say that it is a great effort from a new band. it shows that they have the potential to reach very high standards. imo this album is almost a 10... i'd like it to "sound" more aggressive...
---- Υou've sold your human essence to the cold world of dead and empty things... You're SOLD!
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