Obsequiae: Suspended in the Brume of Eos

This is a re-issue, not a new release. What makes this one different from others, though, is that the band is on a new label (20 Buck Spin) and that this is the album's first pressing on vinyl. Even though some of you have already heard this album, perhaps even read reviews of it, I'm going to pretend like it's entirely new. I liked this album, after all, and want to give it some praise.

First of all, this band does quite a bit with melodic black and death metal throughout the album. In that light, things are pretty good, if a bit conventional from time to time. What sets things apart, though, is the way these guys blend medieval music into the mix. This shows up in a couple of ways: first off, the heavier tracks are clearly drawn on the kinds of harmonies and melodies traditional to medieval music. Second, the album includes several interludes that are either classical guitar renditions of medieval music or original medieval-like songs. In either event, the album comes together quite nicely, as though the musical ideas of the past and the present were always meant to come together.

For me, the best thing about this album was how familiar the whole thing was. I don't mean that I've heard these melodies before. What I do mean is that the melodies and the harmonies offered here are a part of a larger—and familiar—musical vocabulary. I liked hearing the way Obsequiae seamlessly put together the past and the present to create something interesting and exciting. I'd recommend this one for sure.

Track Listing:
1. Altars of Moss
2. Sidhe
3. In the White Fields
4. Suspended in the Brume of Eos
5. Wildes Heer
6. The Wounded Fox
7. Atonement
8. Estas Redit
9. Arrows
10. The Starlit Shore
11. Boreas
12. Cabin Lights

Added: July 4th 2014
Reviewer: Carl Sederholm
Score:
Related Link: Band Label Page
Hits: 1712
Language: english

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