Obscura - Cosmogenesis

With a line-up featuring former members of such technical luminaries as Necrophagist and Pestilence, it really shouldn’t be a surprise to find out that German act Obscura dwells on a identical musical path deeply entrenched in a technical and progressive Death-Metal sound.
Their second full-length work and first for Relapse Records “Cosmogenesis” have been winning plaudits from several publications lately for its staggering musicianship and technical exuberance, though I’m not entirely convinced by their fusion of technical Death-Metal with progressive and jazzy twists since it covers no new ground and sounds way too clinical on various occasions.
“Cosmogenesis” for the most part of its fifty minutes fails to hold the interest, since it meanders too much thru self-indulgent technicalities with the band plunging into a ceaseless display of intricate riffs and guitar solos, jazzy bass lines and an adroit and hyperactive drumming that although are masterfully constructed and executed, are difficult to listen to at times. Of course, Technical Metal aficionados will disagree and will drool all over the complex scales guitarists Steffen Kummerer and Christian Muenzner repeatedly plough throughout these ten themes and the byzantine fretless-bass work of Jeroen Paul Thesseling, who simply refuses to lurk in the shadows of his six-stringed colleagues.
As with all progressive Death-Metal releases, ties to Death and Cynic are unavoidable and for the most part are pretty accurate since “Cosmogenesis” isn’t too far removed from works like “Human”, “Individual Thoughts Pattern” and “Focus”. In many instances the band has a melodic and progressive-style riffing and lead-work similar to the late Chuck Schuldiner, only distancing from such approach when Obscura opt for a more head-on brutal attack, which in this case thoughts of their former band Necrophagist comes to mind.
Bottom line is that, “Cosmogenesis” is a fairly decent and enjoyable Technical Death-Metal record, but not exactly the timeless classic Relapse blurbs about. (6/10)

Band info: www.myspace.com/realmofobscura
Label info: www.relapse.com
Distributed in Portugal by www.majorlabelindustries.com