Filthy Music Review - 'Obliteration: Black Death Horizon'

Obliteration – Black Death Horizon (2013)

Indie Recordings/Relapse

Review by Jude Felton

Back in my teens, death metal was new; I bore witness to its messy birth, following bands on both sides of the Atlantic, saw the trends come and go, and have followed its bloody path ever since. One thing that stills rings fresh in my mind though, was how damned exciting it was, moving as I was from a Bay Area Thrash fixation through to this ugliest of music. Listening to the latest album from Norway’s Obliteration triggered that excitement once again, all these years later.

I’m not going to harp on about how Obliteration is doing anything that hasn’t been done before, but the sheer brutal passion that drips from this album is undeniable. This is pounding music that feels like it is the work of an utter mad man, or men, thanks in part to the absolutely psychotic vocal delivery. However, it’s all parts that go into creating the beast that is Black Death Horizon; the screeching guitar solos, a bass that wants to squash you under foot and drums that never let up. It’s all here, and it sounds bloody superb.

Black Death Horizon is 45 minutes or so of primal death metal, not a million miles away from the likes of Autopsy or Dismember, but with enough pissed off character of its own; more than enough in fact.  Each song, from the opener The Distant Sun (They Are the Key), through tunes like Goat Skull Crown and Sepulchral Rites, are all mini death metal epics, such is their structure and delivery. Even when a song only clocks in at less than 4 minutes, it feels like a much grander and twisted entity.

Black Death Horizon is not an album that fucks about; from start to finish it delivers an ugly baptism of unholy death metal. There’s no polish or glossy veneer, just seven songs that rage with the rawness that is so often lacking in music of this ilk. This is old school brutality dragged kicking and screaming into the present day, and it sounds absolutely fantastic.

Tracklist:

1. The Distant Sun (They Are the Key) 
2. Goat Skull Crown 
3. Transient Passage 
4. Ascendance (Sol Invictus) 
5. Sepulchral Rites 
6. Black Death Horizon 
7. Churning Magma

Black Death Horizon is released by Indie Recordings/Relapse Records and is available now.