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OBSCENE
Agony & Wounds

Nameless Grave (2024)
Rating: 6/10

With their third full-length album in four years, Indiana, Indianapolis-based foursome Obscene once again cherry pick the best pieces of classic Obituary, Pestilence etc. for what is essentially another dehydrated death metal rant.

Thanks to guitarist Mike Morgan this album grinds and chugs like a rust-ridden tank; a tried and trusted metallic beast that is reliable but rarely nothing more. Merging the gasps of John Tardy (Obituary) and Martin van Drunen (Asphyx / ex-Pestilence), vocal maniac Kyle Shaw is certainly a force, even if, like the music on offer, it’s so familiar.

As their name suggests though, Obscene are in your face like a bruising juggernaut which is happy to jog (‘Dressed In Corpses’) or ooze into a doomier mood (‘Noxious Expulsion’), or on a few occasions, thrash (‘Watch Me When I Kill’). There’s something here for everyone even if it’s all delivered in a sturdy yet generic framework.

The album is not short of brutality and opener ‘The Cloverland Panopticon’ kicks the listener hard. However, through the 42 minute duration there is not only a lack of identity but a sense that any band could rush this sort of death noise (check out Grand Supreme Blood Court for more effective noise). Even so, this is still solid death metal that sits firmly on the familiar fence.

Neil Arnold

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