June 2024 - Feature Release - The Pit Edition

So just like that we find that a new month is upon us which of course means that we’ll be nominating a brand new monthly feature release for each clan. This essentially means that we’re asking you to rate, review & discuss our chosen features for no other reason than because we enjoy the process & banter. We’re really looking forward to hearing your thoughts on our chosen releases so don’t be shy.

This month’s feature release for The Pit has been nominated by myself. It's 1993's highly regarded "Nemesis" sophomore album from Canadian technical trash metal outfit Obliveon, a record that I gave a lot of play time to back in the day. I recently revisited Obliveon's 1990 debut album "From This Day Forward" & found that it had lost none of its lustre so I thought I'd better see how its younger sibling had fared given that I gave them both a similar level of attention as a teenager. See what you think & feel free to share your thoughts guys.

https://metal.academy/releases/10655

I really tried to like this one, giving it 4 or 5 full spins since it felt like a sort of classic I should enjoy given I like my Thrash on the more progressive and technical side. Obliveon seems like a Thrash band that was heavily influenced by the heavy-hitting Technical/Progressive Death Metal bands of the early 90's like Death or Atheist with their ever-changing and angular riffing structure behind haphazard vocals. Despite the frankly impressive guitar and bass work throughout the album I could never come to grips with the vocals and overall production and mixing enough for Nemesis to be something I'd want to come back to.

The vocals are the biggest issue for me, since it seems like Obliveon managed to find the exact combination where Stéphane Picard's vocal timbre, the way it's so pushed forward and completely takes over the mix, and the overall structure of the lyrics (especially some choruses like "Dynamo") is like nails on a chalkboard for me. I'm not sure if this is an original vs remaster issue, since it sounds like the 2023 remastered version on Spotify is the same as what I've been listening to except the overall volume has been boosted. The guitars end up lacking bite and the drums don't have much presence for me, even when I try to blast it through my headphones to make up for the subdued mixing. And, of course, that only makes the vocals more of a problem for me. Despite all the technical riffing on display none of it really sticks with me because of awkward rhythms between the vocals and instrumentation. Nemesis is at its best when it crushes you with riff after riff, strung together by creative and sharp transitions and interludes like during the majority of "Frosted Avowals", but still loses itself when it tries to use cleaner leads or bass solos to pop out of the mix. These parts, despite being musically interesting, lose any sort of energy that Obliveon has and grind sections to a halt, like the confusing bass parts towards the middle of "Estranging Abduction". All of these issues combined just leave me with a resounding feeling of "...meh." despite this album being able to hang with the greats in terms of complexity. I kind of wish they would have leaned into the more industrial sound at the beginning of "Nemesis" as I got more weight out that riff than the rest of the album. Definitely glad I checked this out as these guys are a more unknown wild card in the early 1990's Death Metal surge, but I can't say it's entirely for me.

3 / 5

Here's my review:

Montreal technical thrashers Obliveon were a pretty big band for me back in the early 1990’s with both of their first two releases playing relatively important roles in my musical journey as I became "progressively" more interested in the more technical side of extreme metal (see what I did there?). I first discovered them through a dubbed copy of their 1990 debut full-length “From This Day Forward” which I really dug & kept in my Walkman for a few solid months. That prompted me to seek out 1993’s “Nemesis” sophomore album from the tape trading scene as soon as it was released & both records would play a role in me taking my own band’s sound into more expansive structural territories over the next few years, even if I opted for a much more deathly sound. These two releases would be where my journey with Obliveon ended though as the idea of them moving to more of a groove metal sound didn’t appeal to me much so I have to admit that I’m still yet to check out Obliveon's two mid-to-late 1990’s records. Regardless of that oversight, I’m excited to relive my time with Obliveon this week, particularly given that my recent revisit of “From This Day Forward” was so successful.

It's interesting that Xephyr has had such issues with the production job on “Nemesis” because, outside of the strangely off-putting lead guitar tone that appears when they present some of their more progressive & melodic ideas, I struggle to hear the flaws he’s described if I’m being honest. Sure, the drums have a mechanical feel but that works in pretty nicely with the complexity of the riff structures in my opinion. I don’t find that the guitars lack depth or the vocals are too loud either. To my ears everything seems to be pretty well balanced & more than appropriate for an extreme metal release of the time. Perhaps I’m just very used to this record after all these years or are simply more comfortable with early 90’s metal releases in general given my pedigree? I dunno but let’s just say that the production isn’t an issue for me & leave it at that. In fact, I love how the bass guitar cuts through the mix so nicely & everything is so clear & intelligible, despite the incredible technicality on show.

Obliveon have often been claimed as a death/thrash hybrid & you can easily see why. The main selling point for the links to death metal can be found in the vocals which come across as a deathly version of Kreator front man Mille Petrozza & are more than adequate to get the job done. Instrumentally, Obliveon lean comfortably over towards the thrash side of the equation though & I don’t think you’ll be shocked by the extremity of “Nemesis”. It’s not about brutality, instead being weighted heavily towards class, sophistication & execution which are all boxes that it ticks in unanimous fashion throughout the eight tracks on offer. There’s no doubt that Obliveon were pushing the complexity levels right up to the outer thresholds that the metal scene had achieved to the time & they seem to do it really easily too. The talent on show is astounding at times &, unlike some of their tech thrash peers, that element can be seen across the board with the rhythm section being particularly impressive. There’s definitely some commonality in the way the riffs are structured as Obliveon tend to favour a spider-fingered, palm-muted, single-string style of riff that’s performed extremely tightly & if you can buy into that technique (which I clearly can) then you’re in for a real treat as few can do it as well as it’s been done here. I’m a big fan of the way the bass guitar is used & there's are a lot of interesting yet subtle colour added through the drum fills that bring a lot to the overall package too. My only complaint might be that there could have been a little less restraint shown in the guitar solos which often take a more melodic approach than one would normally expect from their thrash.

As with “From This Day Forward”, Obliveon struggle to create genuine highlight tracks here though & a lot of that comes down to the fact that it’s difficult to achieve that when your song structures are focused so heavily on complexity. They do manage to reach that elusive pinnacle on “Frosted Avowals” though which is easily my favourite Obliveon track & made a significant impact on me back in the day. The quality level dropped just a touch at the end of “From This Day Forward” but that’s not the case with “Nemesis” which is slightly more consistent & that’s probably the main reason why I tend to favour it over its elder sibling. There’s not a lot between them though & I’d suggest that both should be essential listening for fans of the more technical side of extreme metal.

For fans of Vektor, Voivod & Аспид.

4/5