obscura - a sonication

it's may and this new obscura is just the 2nd 2025 album i bought so far. but quantity doesn't necessarily refer to quality and in that case, there is loads of quality. on 'a sonication' band leader steffen kummerer has yet again changed the complete personnel, surely not to the album's disadvantage. fantastic piece that easily stands in line with the rest of obscura's discography. gold vinyl out of 1.000 copies. nuclear blast. 2025.

obscura - a valediction

a new obscura around band leader steffen kummerer and a new album called "a valediction". the new team orbits a lot more around traditional metal riffing with some influences taken from the scandinavian school. pretty cool, i really like it. white with red/toffee splatter double vinyl with an etching on the d-side. 300 copies made. nuclear blast. 2021.

obscura - omnivium (splatter re-press)

i usually do not buy multiple pressings of one and the same record. i am happy with one copy for the collection and rather burn my money for a bigger range of albums than for a bigger range of colour-ways. for some selected records and/or bands i love to make exceptions. one of those special bands is definitely obscura.

when relapse records announced the re-pressing of the first three obscura full length releases, i walked away with "retribution" only, because i already had first pressings of "cosmogenesis" and "omnivium". when the first pictures of the "omnivium" re-press surfaced on the net, i was really intrigued with the look of the yellow blob of this splatter pressing. it looks so melted and irregular that i kind of wanted a copy.

at the time relapse had sold out on all of their copies. thankfully the band had a bunch of them to offer via their webshop and i got one for my birthday. i went to see them play live in hamburg in last february together with fallujah and boy, they have been great. they had copies with them but i was already covered. 250 copies pressed of this beauty. relapse records. 2011/2019.

obscura - retribution

oh, how i was in excitement when relapse records announced the re-issues for the first three obscura records. i managed to get a hold on first press copies of "cosmogenesis" and "omnivium" in the meantime but for "retribution" there simply was no vinyl edition to chase down. so of course i was all over the pre-orders for the latter. i ordered directly from relapse europe although there was a wider colour press for distros and i actually wanted to avoid ordering from the label in the future. only the less limited bone white vinyl version definitely wasn't going to cut it.

strange enough, something always seems to go wrong when ordering from relapse. this time it wasn't their fault, though. the delivery company somehow ignored the delivery address on the mailer and sent the record to my old place. my wife, the kid and i moved in last year's october but out of an old habbit the delivery guy placed the parcel in the shed behind our old flat. the internet tracing told me it was delivered there. man, i was lucky my old neighbour handed me the unharmed record the other day. whatever, here we are with the first vinyl pressing of "retribution".

i never listened to the album before because when it is not on vinyl and i don't get the cd or tape version by chance in a physical store or so, i just have no desire to use a digital format these days. when i dropped the needle on the record for the first time, i was surprised by the sounds. this is a different kind of beast. the band had in comparison to "cosmogenesis" a complete different line-up and musically there was still a step to take. still, "retribution" has its fantastic moments and for any obscura nerd this is a must have. pressed on bone white inside clear with multi-colour splatter out of 250 copies. relapse records. 2018.

obscura - omnivium

oh yes! that were the first words flashing my mind after i won the auction for this gem right here. obscura's "omnivium" was a major want of mine and i always struggled with the high prices asked for coloured copies. when relapse records, the label on which "omnivium" appeared, announced a re-press of "cosmogenesis" earlier on this year, i hoped for a re-press of the band's third album as well. but the day never came until now and so i went on scanning second hand market places waiting for the right chance.

shortly after i recieved my copy of the newest obscura record "diluvium", i came across a french ebay auction. i had to use a translator to understand the description because my french is pretty much non-existent. it said the auction was about the green with white marble edition with a starting bid of fifty bucks. at the moment asking prices on discogs start at eighty euros and so i considered taking a chance on the auction. there was just a sketchy picture of the cover and so i wasn't sure of the condition all around. but maybe this was also repelling others from bidding. in the end the temptation was too great to resist and i won the auction for the starting bid.

ten bucks on top for shipping made the amount of money considerable but ok to me. when the record arrived i was a bit disappointed by the condition the cover sleeve was in. beginning ring wear and a few corner dings showed that pre-owner didn't understand to store his vinyl carefully. luckily the records theirselves are in perfect condition, so that made up for the cover. musically "omnivium" showcases all the strengths of the band in perfect harmony. everything is so well conducted and right in place that i run out on superlatives to describe its beauty. just listen to the doomy "ocean gateways" and the jaw-dropping almost-instrumental "a transcendental serenade" to get a glimpse of the perfection that is "omnivium". easily my favourite obscura record.

my copy is from the green/white marble edition but obviously i have one green marble disc and one green transparent disc. discogs shows a similar copy but i also found pictures on the net with two marble discs. after i inspected my records more thoroughly i saw that my marble copy isn't opaque but semi-translucent when held against the light. so it must be clear green pvc miced with opaque white to create the marble effect. looking at my transparent disc one can see some white streaks. so it seems that the pressing plant didn't throw enough white pvc into the mix for the second disc. anyway, sounds great cut at 45rpm. 266 copies made. relapse records. 2011.

post scriptum: i know, it is quite a while until february 2019 arrives but i couldn't help and get a ticket for the upcoming euro tour of obscura next year. i am excited like a kid and can't wait to see them. what a great line-up with fallujah and first fragment as supporting acts.

obscura - diluvium

oh yes, the new obscura through the speakers! i fell in deep love with this german technical death metal band two years ago. "akróasis" was a goddamn scorcher that annihilated everything in its path. it was obvious that i needed more. after i bought their early days compilation "illegimitation" and snagged "cosmogenesis" via ebay, only "omnivium" was able to elude me until now. that being said, it was out of the question to be all over the pre-orders for a new album when they were announced.

i hate to admit it but social media helped me. in his youthful energy my brother-in-law suggested that i should take advantage of instagram. i could follow bands and labels without being active on my own, being anonymous so to speak and was never to be late to a pre-order announcement again. he has got a point there. so my instagram relapse feed told me time and place for the pre-order and there i was, able to buy the most limited colour-way. only i didn't want it because a less limited one looked cooler. it was nice to have the chance for once, though.

"diluvium" is such a strong record. i only listened to it a handful of times but i am absolutely blown away at this point already. intelligent arrangements, fantastic melody lines, sophisticated bass play and those delicious solos, not to speak of the amazing drumming - "diluvium" is obscura par excellence. hard to pick some favourites so check them all out. the presentation is simple but effective. slip sleeve of nice matte cardboard with lovely artwork by orion landau and sweet splattered bone white with deep purple merge out of 250 copies. album of the year so far! relapse records. 2018.

obscura - cosmogenesis

obscura have really left their mark on my musical horizon. i bought their latest full length "akróasis" when it was released last year and it quickly became one of my favourite records of the year plus it helped to kick start a tech death obsession i still cherish. almost exactly one year ago i bought my last piece of obscura vinyl - their odds and ends compilation "illegimitation". that left me with two records of the band still to chase down, which are "omnivium" and "cosmogenesis".

discogs was a dead end because the prices asked for both of the records are far from what i call reasonable. ebay was even worse. no auctions, just offerings with inflated buy-it-now prices. a seller had both records at hand and was lowering the price each time the auctions ended without anyone pulling the trigger. "omnivium" was pulled at fifty euros, i believe. when "cosmogenesis" was at fourty euros, another seller from germany offered his copy for thirty bucks. i was there to end this price battle and left the war zone with a record under my arm for an ok price.

"cosmogenesis" is prog/tech death metal perfection. a timeless piece of culminated musical craftsmanship. not one note is random, everything is so deliciously sophisticated. check it out and bow to the sheer superiority of obscura's "cosmogenesis". the first and to this date only pressing is out of 1000 copies. here is the breakdown: 100 copies on the obligatory clear vinyl, 400 copies on 180g black vinyl and 500 copies on this beautiful opaque blue vinyl. comes in a slip sleeve with printed dust sleeve and is looking sharp! relapse records. 2009.

obscura - illegimitation

obscura's "akróasis" remained pretty high on my vinyl rotation since i bought this baby in march this year. such an unbelievably strong technical death metal record, definitely one of my top ten releases at this point of the year. because that album is so good, naturally i wanted the remaining releases on vinyl as well. that proved to be impossible for a price i am willed to pay. these damn things are that pricey, so i will wait it out. fingers crossed for re-pressings.

actually there was one vinyl release of obscura that was available, their compilation release called "illegimitation" from 2012. the band realised this output via crowd-funding and it contains their demo from 2003, three songs of the pre-production for the "cosmogenesis" album from 2006 and three cover songs to represent the influences certain bands had on obscura. in 2002 the guys started out under the name of illegimitation and sounded quite different.

the demo songs show the band in an state of progression. the stuff sounds way more like swedish school and by far not as technical as familiar pieces. in the following years the band changed its name and a lot of members. steffen kummerer is the only founding member by now. in 2006 the album "retribution" was released and in 2009, for the first time on relapse records, "cosmogenesis" saw the light of day. pre-production for the latter album already started in 2006 and from that sessions the three songs "incarnated", "open the gates" and "headworm" found their way onto this release.

those sound great and more like the obscura i knew from "akróasis". the cover songs are pure tech-death greatness. i knew the death and the cynic song. listening to the atheist cover, i should listen more to the original. the presentation is pretty nice. gatefold cover with printed dust sleeve containing very interesting liner notes to the early days of the band by steffen kummerer himself. all topped off by matching clear red vinyl. probably just a fanboy record but worthwhile to me. good price too. released on the band's own label, voice of the soul records. 2012.

obscura - akróasis

obscura always flew under my radar. i mean, i knew they were there and that i would like them because i vaguely listened to a few songs in the past, but i never pursued to get into their stuff. mainly because i knew that getting my hands on some coloured vinyl of their albums would be quite a difficult task. relapse did pretty limited colour runs and never re-pressed them. so availability on second hand market places is scarce and prices are high.

when relapse announced the release of 'akróasis', i wasn't excited that much. other things had higher priorities and to get coloured relapse vinyl is always a pain in the ass, because their cool stuff is always shop exclusive and only black vinyl or lame colours make their way into german distros. every once in a while i will pay them cruel oversea shipping rates but if there is the slightest chance to avoid it, i'll be all over it.

in this case, a chance was given to me by the band's facebook page. i visited it to check some tunes of the record because i saw the european version pop up at the nuclear blast mailorder. at the page i was re-directed to their own e-shop and right there they had all the sweet colours from the u.s. shops. the band comes from germany and so shipping rates weren't a problem. even though it wasn't the most limited, i opted for the sharp orange and bone white merge vinyl because it looks just so delicious.

musically 'akróasis' is a friggin' monster of a prog/tech death metal record. at first i needed one or two spins to get used to that unusual bass play but now i can't get enough of it. it is extremely well done and proves that this instrument can be more than just plain backing. the songs are all so sophistically crafted, it is a real pleasure to discover more details at every spin. especially that monument of a song which is 'weltseele', is the fifteen minute long icing on the cake.

when the band kicks back in after that synphonic interlude, i fell like bruce banner turning into hulk. i want to go bezerk. check the whole album at the band's bandcamp and get yourself a copy of this great album. the record comes in a gatefold sleeve with lovely artwork. additionally to my order i got a free poster which i included in the package, even though it wasn't originally part of it. but as it will never hang on the wall i can slip it inside the cover as well. the vinyl comes with a slick d-side etching. 500 copies made. relapse records. 2016.