It's good to have things that are tried and true in your life. Good friends that are there for you, an old dog to blame your farts on, that favorite bar to hang out at, and any other things you can think of. And Pestilence. These Dutch masters of death metal can always be counted on to crush it on their albums and bring the destruction live on stage. “Obsideo”, their 7th full length, does not disappoint in any way.
Like all things you can count on, they don't break any new ground. They are just so good at what they do that it is a treat to hear them do it. Although track 4, “NecroMorph”, has one of the most badass riffs I've ever heard in a death metal song, along with some very well placed keyboards, so you can definitely gets some new tricks out of an old dog. This is just simply well done, well written, well performed death, and it points out how good death can be in the hands of professionals.
The album opens with the title track, which starts with 15 or 20 seconds of sounds of someone hooked up to some kind of hospital equipment and taking their last breaths. Not exactly unique, and even after listening to this one several times I have no clue what it has to do with anything, but it gets the ball rolling. And once the music kicks in, “Obsideo” the track is just an all out rager. Exactly the way to start out an album like this. The rest of the 9 tracks on the album vary in tempo, but not a lot. You either get the full speed ahead numbers or kind of mid paced stuff, but the most important thing is that it all works.
The production works well on this one. It's right on the border of being too polished, but the good thing about production like this is that you can actually hear all the parts. And one of the great things to me about a Pestilence album is you get those great, dissonant guitar solos that good death metal can bring. Rock solos, blues solos, they are always melodic, they always tie into the main theme or riff of the songs. Not in death metal. Sometimes you wonder if these guys are even listening to the song for which they are playing the solo. They aren't melodic, a lot of times they sound like the guitar player just decided to show off his chops and to hell with whether it goes with the song or not. And they are really awesome like that.
This is a good one, my friends. Heavy, crushing, pounding, relentless, just like death metal should be. These guys are like the Old Faithful of death. Buy their CDs, go see them live, you will never be disappointed.
- ODIN
