Review by Daniel for Obliveon - Nemesis (1993)

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.