First of all, the nerve of these dudes to release such a good album so late in 2013. They must know that most year-end lists are finalized by the first day of November. DON’T LIE AND SAY THESE THINGS DON’T MATTER, OBLITERATION.
I pinned these Norwegians as the next logical choice after Sweden’s Necrovation and Tribulation as the most likely candidates for pushing the death metal envelope into previously unchartered lands. Yet lo and behold, full-length number three from the Obliterites pretty much gets right to the business of doing what the forefathers of this genre originally intended to do: beat your goddamn head in. No post-y, pscyhedelic weirdness, or cavernous Robitussin-soaked riffing necessary – just hoary death metal weaponry galvanized in the same sort of modern offbeat lunacy that allowed 2009’s excellent Nekropsalms to perform a similarly blunt rearranging of the face.
What’s fascinating about Black Death Horizon, however, is the fact that it manages to pull the trigger and hit center-target despite two seemingly conspicuous hurdles placed in its trajectory. Firstly, the album kicks off with probably the most difficult song of the seven to digest. “Distant Sun (They Are the Key)” tromps from the gate like a muddled moose amongst thoroughbreds, but it gets one Hell of a bolt of lightning fired right up its pelted keester once the 3:30 mark finally d-beats the living shit out of everything in sight and sends the cut plowing through the listener’s brain matter.
Secondly, despite the band’s obvious affinity toward a band such as Autopsy, they achieve a similar goal of mutilated death metal victory without the use of a natural hook. There’s really no “Gasping for Air” or “Robbing the Grave” to speak of, yet Black Death Horizon‘s ultimate outcome is still contagious and demanding of repeat plays. If I had to sum it up in a word, it’d be… Fun. Perhaps such a word is verboten in the death metal language, but Obliteration manage grins without being outright jolly, so definitely be prepared for a full-on assault within the course of these 42 minutes. The opening to “Sepulchral Rites,” for example – that’s just plain mean, friends. MEAN. And the 3:25 mark of “Goat Skull Crown” stands as one of 2013’s most blistering moments, yet so many people were too busy being lulled into a trance by the more avante- side of the spectrum to even catch a whiff.
Adding to the overall fun is the fact that these guys play with the sort of proficiency that sounds as if they jumped right from the womb with their instruments and studded gauntlets in tow. Love drums? Kristian Valbo gleefully powders bones to ash during Black Death Horizon‘s many heated, punkier moments. Bass? Didrik Telle channels his inner Blacky to infect each tune with fuzzy four-stringed radiation yanked right from the reactor. (That grime that hits the ears once the early prettiness of “Ascendance (Sol Invictus)” ends: GUH!) Guitars? Arlid Myren Torp (also of Nekromantheon) fires wriggling, weedly-wee leads around every corner like Danny Corralles with his hair on fire. And vocalist Sindre Solem barks with a maniacal howl that sounds like some sort of collision between a human and an unhinged Beagle getting Snausages tossed at him from every angle. All buttoned together, it’s an exuberant, maniacal tapestry that simply couldn’t be properly sewn together by players of a lesser rank.
If you count yourself a fan of the genre and pushed this record to the back burner in late 2013 for any reason, do whatever it takes to make it one of your top priorities in 2014 – Black Death Horizon is a prime example of modern death metal that pays proper fealty to the core elements without sounding like a dusty, wrinkled rehash.
