Obitus – March Of The Drones
So, March of the Drones begins. A quiet, tense intro passage.. No build-up… No sign of it ending… Fuck, this intro is long, and I’m getting impatient… Then, finally, Obitus go to war.
The bunker roof caves in as Sacrificial Abolishment explodes with thick, fast, rhythmic blasting. Hard, dense and aggressive.
This is a band who have not chosen to follow the pack: they whip up a variety of extreme metal styles to fight side-by-side, clad in Black Metal armour.
Obitus can evidently deliver fast, technical metal – but they also inject a high dose of hatred into their song-writing. When this album reaches full speed, it’s like riding downhill on a sprinting bison – and there’s plenty of it throughout March of the Drones.
Most of the tracks stray into so-called ‘industrial’ territory from time-to-time: sampled spoken passages with ‘ambient’ sounds, or rapid, blastbeat-riff stabs. Fans of Mezzerschmitt or Anaal Nathrakh will enjoy these moments, but BM purists needn’t cringe for too long – these diversions are used with restraint, and it’s never long before Obitus renew their blitz-speed attack.
There’s a healthy smattering of slower sections, which chew along with a more controlled anger – but always with the sense that the band is straining at the leash, waiting for the moment to start ripping out your face again.
A largely standard Black Metal vocal delivery completes the overall effect, but it seems a little restrained in the overall mix (though I admit I do like the resulting emphasis on the drums, guitar and bass).
The songs are both complex in structure and depth. Obitus have put a lot of effort into writing an opus of tracks that flow together to form one, long sustained assault – using every type of musical weaponry the band can muster.
This album battled with my tastes in Black Metal from beginning to end. But albums which appeal to me gradually over time like March of the Drones usually become favourites for life. After checking out their MySpace samples, I’m looking forward to being battered and stabbed by their earlier releases too.
Black Metal is dead. In the UK at least. Seeing as though it is the place that gave birth to the genre it is as fuckin’ useless a broke-dick dog. There is no scene to speak of, just the odd one or two equally useless bands trying in vain to mimic some of the more [...]
Opening with a song title of the length Bal Sagoth would be proud of (thankfully that’s as the only comparison to draw), the imaginatively titled ‘A Glimpse of the Image of Lucifer Gleaming Beyond the Subterraneous Black Sun’ marches forth. Mid paced, it stamps away with the precision of a well oiled Black Metal machine [...]
this seems somehow out of place here.. not the raw barbaric grim shit:).. I do like the industrial/black metal combination.. killer stuff, excellent..
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