by Jay Siebert
Munich, Germany’s tech metal mastermind Steffen Kummerer returns in 2009 with his band Obscura’s sophomore album Cosmogenisis. With a few member changes and additional set backs now behind him, he now comes adorned with former members of Necrophagist and ex -Pesitlence bass extraordinaire Jeroen Paul Thesseling. On first listen, my impression was that this was going to be a Necrophagist clone band. The first song especially might give one that vibe especially with its opening. Given a closer listen however, you will soon find that this is not the case at all. Clean singing and guitar passages, and just knowing when to lay back musically, is a thing that seems to set this band apart from the rest of the ilk. Tracks such as “Noosphere” and “Centric Flow” show that Obscura can write with melody and feel while still displaying finger blistering shredding in tracks like “The Anticosmic Overload” and “Universe Momentum.” Signing to Relapse shortly after the completion of this album plus instensive touring throughout North America and Europe (including doing support shows for Florida’s influential technical death pioneers Atheist) shows that this band has much to offer and you can bet that you’ll be hearing much more from them in the future. This is definitely a top release of 2009 in my opinion. (Relapse)
http://www.myspace.com/realmofobscura
