Obscene - Agony & Wounds

If you are a hard working band that places value in grinding on the road, then 2020 was not a great time to release a debut album. Indiana based Death Metal band Obscene did that with The Inhabitable Dark, and it was a very impressive debut release that received plenty of acclaim. That period ended many bands, but Obscene knuckled down and played some festivals in 2021, and then went straight to work on From Dead Horizon…To Dead Horizon, which was mastered by one of their influences, Edge of Sanity’s Dan Swano. That 2022 album was another very good slab of classic Death Metal. It was more confident than the blistering debut, yet compromised on nothing.

Obscene play an exciting brand of traditional Death Metal that is deeply rooted in the late 80’s and 90’s. They display razor sharp riffs, a tornado like rhythm section and maniacal and tortured vocals, and they have an uncanny ability to write such memorable and hook laden songs. Agony & Wounds is their third album and it is the most thrilling traditional Death Metal release so far in 2024.

First track "The Cloverland Panopticon” opens with a multi tracked melodic guitar lead, which lasts for 30 seconds before you are hit with an emergency siren and a bomb going off. The band then release all hell - everything is dialled up to 10. The riffs and drums are ripping, tearing Cloverland and the listener apart. There is a swirling and circular feel to the riffing and general atmosphere, which is almost hypnotising.

The attitude of the band is very cool, adjectives are not required - they are just plain cool. The Tom G Warrior like “ooh/ugh/umms” are short, sporadic and timed very well. The old school whammy squeal is on display and the solos in general appear on quite a few tracks, but do not last long and always add to the tracks rather than being tacked in, nor do they sound overtly flashy or awkward. It is clear that the guys love their films and they seem very well read as well as the lyrics across all of their albums are absorbing and captivating.

Vocally, Kyle Shaw sounds demented. He has really improved that angular, deranged howl. Kyle’s style is so much different to the caveman growls that are so prominent in the scene these days, it is actually refreshing.

“Watch Me When I Kill” opens with reverb drenched power chords and supercharged drumming with a sick snare tone. The frenzy continues with “Breathe the Decay.” The guitar tone hits the sweet spot for Death Metal. Everything you love about the classic tones of bands like Death, Obituary, Asphyx and even early At the Gates have been incorporated into the tones and style of playing here. “Breathe the Decay” would have nestled in nicely between “Born Dead” and “Forgotten Past” on Death’s Leprosy.

The hits keep coming with “Noxious Expulsion;” the guitar lead at the 20 second mark is jaw dropping and so memorable. “Death’s Denial” has an interesting structure to it, with a back bone of groove and stop- start chugs. Even when Obscene are at their most traditional, the songwriting is interesting and engaging.

The album is consistent. There are no lulls in energy or lapses in the quality of the songwriting or performances. The album is ten minutes longer than their previous two releases, and at 42 minutes, it is one track too many. As cool as the “oooh” is in “Dressed in Corpses,” it is perhaps this track that could have made way considering there is a 5:40 minute closing track looming on the listener.

The title track closes out the album and it is an explicit change in pace and mood. The riffs join the piano and the track becomes a slow burning but powerful journey. Obscene will no doubt always be classical Death Metal at their core, but they show here that they have the ability to go down the paths of Tomb Mold, Blood Incantation or latter day Death.

Straight into the Rolling Top Ten of 2024