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Obscenity - The 3rd Chapter review



Reviewer:
9.0

12 users:
8.42
Band: Obscenity
Album: The 3rd Chapter
Release date: 1996


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!).


Rating breakdown
Performance: 10
Songwriting: 9
Originality: 8
Production: 9

Written by Sonic MrSumo | 30.04.2012




Guest review disclaimer:
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.


Comments

Comments: 7   Visited by: 49 users
30.04.2012 - 04:51
Nosurper
Stinky Lips
Belched vocals, like brutal death

Enjoyed the review
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30.04.2012 - 11:36
Rating: 9
Sonic MrSumo

Written by Nosurper on 30.04.2012 at 04:51

Belched vocals, like brutal death

Enjoyed the review

Cheers. Thanks for reading.
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All the bridges in the world won't save you, if there's no other side to cross to.
- Rock poetry from Silverchair.
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30.04.2012 - 12:43
Nosurper
Stinky Lips
Written by Sonic MrSumo on 30.04.2012 at 11:36

Written by Nosurper on 30.04.2012 at 04:51

Belched vocals, like brutal death

Enjoyed the review

Cheers. Thanks for reading.


I mean as a question is this some early brutal material?
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01.05.2012 - 01:24
Rating: 9
Sonic MrSumo

Written by Nosurper on 30.04.2012 at 12:43

I mean as a question is this some early brutal material?

Certainly for Obscenity it was, and I think so far as the very high production quality of this album goes (which I neglected to mention in the review) it could be amongst the first.

Perhaps ask the question in the forums for people to comment on. It'd be interesting to read the results.
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All the bridges in the world won't save you, if there's no other side to cross to.
- Rock poetry from Silverchair.
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01.05.2012 - 01:31
Troy Killjoy
perfunctionist
You might get mixed results depending on the age of those you're asking.

Maybe some of the older users will refer to this as a brutal death metal album, but someone my age would probably just classify it as pure death metal. Well, not even pure. Maybe like "thrashy" death metal or whatever. I'm not saying all of the older users will, I'm just saying sometimes genre classifications differ depending on the person you ask because we've all experienced different eras of evolution at different times.

But compared to bands like Inherit Disease and Cephalotripsy... this is not brutal death metal by any means.
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"Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something."
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01.05.2012 - 01:40
vezzy
Stallmanite
Written by Troy Killjoy on 01.05.2012 at 01:31

You might get mixed results depending on the age of those you're asking.


I just call it "old school death metal", tbh. That's what it is, at the end of the day.
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Relinquish proprietary software for a greater GNU/America.
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01.05.2012 - 04:25
Rating: 9
Sonic MrSumo

I do enjoy genre classifcation debates.

Agree with Troy that each to their own. For me and my ears, compared to other death metal albums I have / heard, The 3rd Chapter is brutal. For example, compared to Grave, who are considered death metal or old school death metal, The 3rd Chapter is very brutal.
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All the bridges in the world won't save you, if there's no other side to cross to.
- Rock poetry from Silverchair.
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