2013 has been a good year for evil, filthy death metal. I gave glowing marks to Lantern’s Below earlier in the year, and we’ve seen very well-regarded releases from Krypts, Vorum, and Tyrant Goatgaldrakona, plus a couple of very good under-the-radar EPs from Ruin Lust and Crypt Lurker, who I hope to see rise to bigger heights in the future.
Obliteration’s entry came a little later than most of those, but it’s easily near the top of the list in quality. Black Death Horizon, the highly-anticipated follow-up to 2009’s Nekropsalms, is just dripping with raw, demonic riffs and horrific atmosphere. Wimps need not apply, because the hordes of hell will merely devour them without mercy.
Lantern’s Below is a very good point of comparison for Obliteration’s newest effort. The dark, disgusting atmosphere on Black Death Horizon is very similar, though Obliteration are focused more on neckbreaking riffs. And make no mistake: you WILL be headbanging during this album, whether it’s the frantic pace of ‘Goat Skull Crown’ and ‘Sepulchral Rites’ or the doomier tones of ‘Transient Passage’. There are some truly monolithic moments on this album, and every song has at least one.
In fact, one of the best things about this album is just how massive it feels. Part of the credit certainly goes to the recording and production job (done entirely by the band in their own DIY studio), which makes the band sound plenty raw and dirty, but still meaty and big. The songwriting, though, is what really makes Black Death Horizon so gigantic, because when your riffs are this big, there’s not much you can do in the production process to make them sound small – not that you’d want to anyway.
I’ve always been of the opinion that heaviness comes primarily from songwriting rather than tone or tuning (something a lot of “heavy” bands today don’t seem to understand), and Black Death Horizon is heavy because it is uncompromisingly evil. You can’t go wrong with raw, vile, filthy riffs, and Obliteration know of nothing else.
