Obszon Geschopf - Symphony Of Decay

Obszon Geschopf have been with metal fans for some time, ever since their industrial fused album 'Yeil Of Fright.' Since them, they've kept the industrial format, but slowly evolved into a more nu-metal, thrash based band with industrial influences. Think of them as the gap between bands like Mushroomhead and Ministry. With their latest album, 'Symphony Of Decay,' Obszon continue to poke at death and perhaps death metal themes of dead, undead, and all the fun that can be had with their maggot eaten bodies. Of course, one would only notice that from the titles as Obszon isn't even close to death metal. Their music can basically be broken up into three areas- industrial nu-metal, thrash instrumentals with industrial influences, and short, almost joke or ambiant tracks to lighten up the mood.

The first and obvious enjoyment of this album is the full on music tracks with vocals and industrial bits and everything. Tracks like "The Boogeyman" are great aggressive tracks that are eithers full of chugging rhythmic guitars, and of course the reverbed vocals. They aren't the typical industrial metal vocals one would hear, instead they sound more like death metal or harsh nu-metal along the lines of older Mushroomhead; completely effective. "NIght Stalker" is a great example of the death metal effect with some creepy, random keyboard effects. "Zodiac" shows more of their industrial side by forsaking the guitars and going for almost dancy beats, along with "House Of Wusterfeld" that has some great vocal distortion effects to match the gothic soundscape. "Knife Thrust..." is sadly a bit too chaotic, mirroring grindcore almost, and the industrial influences are sadly buried. Thankfully, there is also "Symphony Of Decay" which is the band's thrashiest track, but also catchies with how the guitars just hammer away in rhythm.

Then there are are the instrumental tracks. Usually these are mostly thrash based with guitars and drums doing all the work such as on "Cauldron Of Human Flesh." There are others like "My Mother Is A Whore" which involve the same formule, except it is slowed down quite a bit and also features spoken word samples. The only one that really stands out from the others is the gothic, almost horror-movie based "Secret Graveyard..." which makes a great use of just subtle keyboard and soft, almost footstep like beats. The utter quiet of the song is just unnervy because one expects something to just jump at them. On the contrary, the track "How To Become A Killer..." is their weakest and (hopefully) a bad joke. This song features a few moments of silence all the way to the end before a woman starts ranting about something. It's either laughable or just worthy of a snort and a skip.

Finally, there are two remixes of "Boogeyman" and "L.A." The first is by an artist named Skrew and just sounds like a more hectic, downtuned version with 'helicopter' beats in the background. The other is done by the industrial famed Mushroomhead and is much more enjoyable. Their version of "L.A." has much more flavorful beats that are more of a blend between trance and dance music rather than frantic psytrance. Overall, both are just to show how the band can sound even better with the help of other artists the way the 'Reanimation' Linkin Park album sounded so great compared to the unremixed album 'Hybrid Theory.' 'Symphony'' is a great face for 2010 industrial metal and certainly worth checking out for anyone who enjoys that type of genre.

  1. The Boogeyman
  2. Night Stalker
  3. Carnage in the Streets of L.A.
  4. Zodiac
  5. Secret Graveyard in the Garden
  6. House of Wüstefeld
  7. The Cauldron of the Human Flesh
  8. Overkill 666
  9. 33 Knife Thrust for a Satanic Crime
  10. My Mother Is a Whore
  11. The Devil Inside
  12. How to Become a Killer With a Granny Dress
  13. Bloody Icescream
  14. Symphony Of Decay
  15. The Boogeyman (Skrew remix)
  16. Carnage in the Streets of L.A. (Mushroomhead remix)

Twilight Vetrieb
Reviewer: Colin McNamara
Dec 15, 2010

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