Technical death metal is a fickle beast. It attracts the most creative, the most talented, and the most achieved musicians from various parts of the globe, and mashes them together in an exercise to churn out extreme metal in its most elegant and thought-provoking form. In those circles, there hasn’t been a band that has come close to the glory of Germany’s Necrophagist, as innovators and standard-bearers of the genre. Few bands have come close to the aforementioned German greatness. The fellow Germans in Obscura have done their damnedest to come close.

Continuing their motif since 2021’s A Valediction, Obscura presents A Sonication. Admittedly, I was an ardent fan of Obscura through the Cosmogenesis – Diluvium years, with Akroasis being among my favorites in their discography. Diluvium felt like the band was stepping off the gas, and I mostly bounced off A Valediction, for reasons of seeming songwriting stagnation. Still hope persisted, and the prospect of eight new tracks of bombastic techy-proggy death metal showed promise of allaying my fears. At the very least it would soothe my ambitions of ever getting another Necrophagist record.

Starting off strong, “Silver Linings” picks up where A Valediction left off, yet adding more enjoyable elements from previous records. This fast-paced tech banger, left me wanting more of this sound. Still, the nagging suspicions of A Sonication being “more of the same” could not be shaken. While “more” Obscura would be sufficient to most listeners, for a band of this fame and a dense discography, more than “more of the same” is expected. From that vantage, A Sonication has failed to deliver. Overall, the album feels half-baked, phoned-in, needing more time in the songwriting oven to bake up new innovative ideas to make the riffs, the arrangements, and the tracks come alive in a meaningful way.

Tracks like “Silver Linings”, and “In Solitude” bleed together into one obscura-mush, with very little to distinguish one melodic string-skipping riff from another, with similar progressions, similar drum arrangements, and similar solos thrown in. The tracks feel formulaic and lacking the progression that newer albums bring to a band’s discography. The acoustic intro with the quickly-getting-stale fretless bass croons of “Beyond the Seventh Sun” (even though the track is similar to “Sermon of the Seven Suns off Akroasis), the track quickly devolves into generic tech-death riffs, with forgettable solos, plodding along in the most tired mid-tempo the genre has to offer. The quicker tempo of “The Prolonging” with the growled vocals paid greater dividends to this reviewer before they descended into their tried-tested-now-tired tropes. They revisit their more death-metal leanings in “The Sun Eater”, which became my favorite on the record. The stripped-down thrashy beats of the intro hint at a possible avenue that Obscura can perhaps pursue in future records, as their current songwriting dossier is gathering proverbial mold. The album closer and title track “A Sonication” moves from trope-laden arrangements into almost hard-rock neo-classical realms when the solos kick in, and I don’t mean that as a compliment. More wankery than thoughtful, interesting songwriting, the title track sums up the album.

By far, the most aggravating track is the single “Evenfall”. Hailed by the band as having Death (the band) influences, the track is a weak, lifeless, commercial mess. Unable to find a foothold in tech-death, prog-death, or even standard death metal circles, the track comes off as radio-friendly (as far as this genre can offer). A hodgepodge of melodic metal at its most cheesiest, showcasing “Evenfall” as a single, was an immensely poor choice by the band and was immediately panned by the more experienced listeners, paving a grim road ahead for A Sonication and Obscura. Judging from the general lackluster impact of the rest of the tracks, the fears feel more grounded than easily dismissed. Releasing “Evenfall” also opened up a whole can of worms and scandal.

Authors Note: The recent scandal regarding the use of riffs, arrangements, tracks, and other material from ex-band members of Obscura by the current lineup (more specifically by vocalist/guitarist Steffen Kummerer) has been the subject of recent controversy. In light of these issues, providing an unbiased review of this record is difficult. The controversy taints the overall experience of the record and lessens its appeal; an unfortunate situation which hopefully will be resolved without further turmoil.

Obscura has always been a revolving door band, with members staying for an album or two before moving on, with varying levels of goodwill. The only stable member, the lynchpin of most online kerfuffles is vocalist/guitarist Steffen Kummerer. Scandal seems to follow him wherever he goes, and his previous band members haven’t painted him in the best light. A lamentable fact, since Kummerer is a talented musician in his own right, perhaps marred by common pitfalls of egomania that plague this academic genre. The scandal has also deeply scarred and biased many against the current lineup of the band, which includes excellent musicians in their own right. New guitarist Kevin Olasz knows his way around his strings and will hold his own in live settings. Bassist Robin Zielhorst (ex-Exivious) brings his fretless virtuosity to the band. While his style only further reminds us about the ill-fated departure of Alex Weber, he brings tasteful lines to the tracks on the record. Drummer James Stewart (most recently of Decapitated fame) is no slouch behind the kit, giving it all he has with the material he has to perform with. Given more time and their arena to shine, there is no doubt that these new musicians can put out a stellar Obscura record. Which only makes A Sonication that much less of a product. It seems the new members were not given enough space and time to bring their flavor to the songwriting process and progress the overall sound.

A Sonication proved to be a deeply disappointing album and a step back for the band in many ways. Marred in the scandal, held back by personal conflict, and rushed through to production, A Sonication was a half-baked, tired, trope, and altogether lackluster product, especially given the influx of new blood into the band. Another band held back by ego, only time will tell if this ship can be righted again, or if it’s doomed to sink.