Band:	Obscenity
Album:	The 3rd Chapter
Style:	Death metal
Release date:	1996
Guest review by:	Sonic MrSumo

01. Jonathan
02. Disgrace Over You
03. Nuclear Holocaust
04. Sensation Mongering
05. Disengaged
06. I'm Your God
07. Abducted And Gutted
08. Still Alive
09. Tarot
10. Schattenspiele

I first heard Obscenity's 3rd Chapter back in 1996 when it was first released, however, I didn't truly appreciate it as my musical tastes in the ultra heavy realm of metal were still very much in their infancy. It was just too heavy, and I couldn't get past the wall of noise and the "belch into the microphone" style death vocals.

That was then, and this is now. My musical tastes are far more mature, and I can honestly say that this album is a masterpiece of brutal death metal.

3rd Chapter contains all the right brutal death metal elements; growled vocals - check; machine gun guitars - check; insanely fast drumming - check; totally unmelodic guitar solos - check. So the base is there, but there are many albums out there with the same core elements that are completely forgettable, so why score this album a 9? What truly makes this release special is the way in which all these elements come together in each song, and then ultimately how these songs string together to form an epic album, not just a CD with some good songs on it. The greatness of 3rd Chapter is aided by some very cool additions such as the clean female vocal harmonisation during the chorus of "Disgrace Over You", and the excellent 4 minute bridge (which then morphs into the outro) in "Disengaged".

But the true shine of this album comes from the plethora (which is no exaggeration, there really are loads) of amazing guitar riffs throughout the 48 minutes that beg the question of how Obscenity even managed to produce another decent album after this as I would have assumed their riff writing stores were surely depleted (they did manage to in case you're wondering).

Lyrically, 3rd Chapter has a social conscience (some of it does anyway), and takes interesting perspectives on rape from the victims angle in "Disgrace Over You" and drug addiction from the users angle in "Disengaged". For the diehard death metal fan, extreme subjects are also included, such as the song "Abducted and Gutted" (the title says it all). It's not all roses though on this album, as there are a couple of low points and unnecessary inclusions. 3rd Chapter opens with an atmospheric introduction of about half a minute which just doesn't fit, as it rapidly changes into the pure aggression and speed of track 2, "Disgrace Over You". The other notable boo boo is the very obvious duplication of part of a solo in "Disengaged" and "I'm Your God".

Bad notes aside, I love 3rd Chapter, my friends who are into extreme metal love 3rd Chapter, so it stands to reason that you'd love 3rd Chapter doesn't it? You should check it out (if you can find a copy that is!).