Obolus - Lament (2012)

EP, Flenser Records
February 1st, 2012

Genre: Atmospheric Black Metal
Region: USA

So the gentlemen over at The Flenser have just made the first EP from newcomers Obolus available for free for a limited time. Their 2011 demo was very promising and for those who were waiting for the next release you won't be disappointed.

Opening with the sound of rainfall and sprinkling these samples throughout the 20 minute crawl, soaring mournful atmospherics are what you'll encounter in Lament. Building on the strong foundations of their demo and pushing the screaming guitars and drum blasts alongside spectral shrieks to extreme levels before settling down for a slower, depressive journey. Brief moments of shaky clean riffs evoke dark and misty mountain ranges and abandoned, haunted cabins long neglected.

Lament then can shift to rawer levels of black metal as well as the riffs conjure storms of pain and grief, pummeling the listener with relentless barrages of percussion, subtle keys and animalistic screams. Darkly melodic and smothered in foggy sadness it is a great progression of their style.

As with the demo, Lament's approach to the genre is to concentrate the hazey, damp ritual of modern black metal into far shorter songs than is the norm without losing any impact and indeed sometimes increasing it.

Highly recommended. A powerful, focused and sorrow filled release sure to be one to creep into the top  of many fans' lists this year. The vinyl release will be coming up soon so keep watching The Flenser for news on it's arrival, until then listen to this wicked record on Obolus' bandcamp and download it for free.

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Obolus - Demo (2011)

Demo, Sunyata Recordings
November 11th, 2011

Genre: Atmospheric Black Metal
Region: USA

A very short but promising 2 track demo from this young band.

Obolus play a familiar style of atmospheric black metal and very well too, something akin to Ash Borer and Fell Voices but in a very distilled format. The tracks here barely reach the 4 minute mark but manage to embody all the sorrow and intensity that a 15-20 minute track would. Bleak and melancholic, a very simple and effective formula on display.

You can listen to this demo over at their bandcamp page. They also have a new full length called "Desolation" coming out soon, a new track was sent up for streaming at Cvlt Nation not long ago (download it here) so keep your eyes peeled for news on that as it will surely be an interesting release. You can pick this up over here or at Sunyata Recordings when it's pressed on cassette later this year.

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