Ελληνικά
Genre: Thrash / Death Metal
Country: Sweden
Label: Go Fuck Yourself Productions
Year: 2014
Obscyria is a Swedish band, coming from Stockholm, formed and active since 2010. Its lyrical themes hang between death, terror, war, anti – religion and politics. In the past, they released two demos, “Armageddon’s Reign” and “Phantom Slaughter”, in 2013 and 2014 each. A few days ago, Obscyria released their first full – length album under the name of “Nefarious Sanctuary”.
The album was recorded in just 5 days, between March and April 2014. It was officially released on December 19th 2014 on CD format, including an official sticker and became available for order just this week. Vinyl formats (including poster) will not be available till next year, as the band informed us via their facebook page.
“Nefarious Sanctuary” consists of 9 tracks with a total runtime of 49 minutes. The album begins with a great rhythm guitar intro followed by a sharp attack of all the band’s instruments. First song is called “Armageddon’s Reign”, perfectly suitable of what’s to come. Spiky riffs followed by easy – going melodic ones, creating a very atmospheric essence. Few seconds later acute, super- fast guitar playing spikes our adrenaline levels again. Throughout the album, you come across old – school thrash theme, as if it’s an album released in mid – 80’s. Shayan’s vocals come off as screams of a demon ready to strike renegades down. More precisely, his vocals on “Phantom Slaughter” are engraved in my memory. Desperate cries that sound genuine, sterling, as if he is actually walking on a valley of agony and death! A great touch lies on the middle of the album. There’s a track under the name “The Nocturnal Haven”, which is not actually a song, but more like a creature coughing, spitting, dragged out of hell, and at the same time an intro for the next track, “Deranged Minds”. “Experiment” and “Hangaman’s poen” follow up, thrashy to the core. Final track is “Vengeful Collision”, in which the band’s drummer, Martin, has done an excellent job with his set, a powerful beast. In the end, an outro awaits us, rather uncanny, yet oddly satisfying, casting off the tension and this forceful vibe built throughout this album.
It’s profound the band paid close attentions on what to perform. Nothing is extravagant or inadequate; on the contrary everything is carefully taken care of. The band already has shared the stage with various bands in festivals, so expect them to strike back soon.
4/6
