Akróasis

"Akróasis" is a very unique-sounding album in Obscura's discography. It features a completely different line-up from the last two albums "Omnivium" and "Cosmogenesis", with only guitarist/vocalist Steffen Kummerer remaining. Joined by bass virtuoso Linus Klausenitzer, drum extraordinaire Sebastian Lanser and the unique Tom "Fountainhead" Geldchläger joining Kummerer on guitar, "Akróasis" is Obscura's 4th album overall, and a great one at that.

One only needs to listen to the first minute of opener "Sermon of the Seven Suns" to understand this album's direction, from the Cynic-inspired vocoder vocals to the heavy technical riffing ala Necrophagist and the absolutely incredible fretless guitarwork courtesy of Fountainhead: this album is not your typical techdeath wankfest, but a very beautifuly crafted set of songs full of creative moments and in my opinion, one of the best records of the genre. While "Akróasis" is definitely not one of the heaviest records of its class, it actually show its brillance when shying away from your typical heavy death metal sounds such as in the title track: featuring hypnotizing blast beats from Lanser on top of beautiful clean guitar arpeggiations by Fountainhead, with Klausenitzer's melodic and soulful fretless bass work over Kummerer's heavy riffing makes for one of the record's strongest and most memorable moments.

The production of this record complements the songwriting perfectly, credited to Victor "V. Santura" Bullok (of Triptykon fame). Every instrument sits nicely in its place, taking all the space they need without overpowering each other making every detail on this record crystal clear and nice on the ears. Kummerer's vocals sound better than ever on this release, and his use of the vocoder on a few songs throughout the record makes his cleaner vocals have this ethereal sound that fits perfectly "Akróasis", where regular clean vocals would not have worked as well. There are a lot of interesting details to pick up through multiple listens with the heavy use of guitar layering throughout the record, with the song "Fractal Dimension" showcasing this element of the album very well with its duelling hard-panned guitars intro with lots of fretless and clean guitar playing hidden behind the heavy riffing which helps making the songs even more memorable with the great melodies sprinkled throughout the song.

"Akróasis"'s heavier moments are also top-tier, with "Ode to the Sun" and "The Monist" being the heavier tracks on this record but no-less memorable: "Ode to the Sun"'s chorus is one of the catchiest and melodic moments in there, with the 15-minutes "Weltseele" featuring very heavy moments. However, "Weltseele" is just too drawn out for its own good and would have benefitted being cut a few minutes shorter which drags down the score of this album a little bit for me.

Overall, this record deserves to be recognized as one of technical death metal's finest records, it's a huge step-up from its more straightforward and less unique predecessors. Obscura would continue on a similar path with its follow-up "Diluvium", but Fountainhead's presence on "Akróasis" makes this record so much more unique and honestly, much better.

Highlights:
Sermon of the Seven Suns
Akróasis
Ode to the Sun
Fractal Dimension

From the times of "Omnivium" to "Akróasis" at Obscura members' career, a lot has happened. Well, a looot. The previous "starry" line-up was completely disintegrated, an interesting compilation of unique songs was released, i.e. "Illegimitation", Steffen Kummerer gained the name of a "prog-death dictator" and he began to form a completely new line-up at his own discretion (which was supported by bassist Linus Klausenitzer, drummer Sebastian Lanser and guitarist Tom Geldschläger), until finally his changed group hit with their fourth album. After its release, Kummerer's band got... surprisingly not so optimistic opinions.

I would describe myself in this much more enthusiastic part of listerens about the content of "Akróasis", although I must admit that it's not as good material as the previous two. Compared to "Omnivium", the most disappointing here is the even stronger departure into technique/progression at the cost of brutality (as if someone were wondering if the new musicians would manage to cope with their predecessors - and they are doing great in the fragment where they don't show off) and the too much subdued production. Among the supposedly bigger changes, there was also a much more Cynic-like feeling on "Akróasis" (you can even enjoy the even "warmer" sound of the bass or generally a progression in the type of Masvidal's band) and melancholic expression. Fortunately, these elements are only additions, not disturbing roughly the prog-death style from the previous albums. The best in terms of this "balance" are "Weltseele" (15-minute colossus!), "The Monist", "Perpetual Infinity", "Ten Sepiroth" and "Sermon Of The Seven Suns". The rest, of course, is also nice, but it would be rated even higher if the band decided to limit the mastery of skills and "pretty" melodies in these songs.

So the big expectations for "Akróasis" paid off; Steffen Kummerer's band - despite some complaints - managed to cope with the line-up changes and managed to create a high-level album, logically related to their previous discs. And this, despite a certain lowering of the tone.

Originally on: https://subiektywnymetal.blogspot.com/2022/06/obscura-akroasis-2016.html

The saga is complete; Obscura's last in their four-album concept series was released in July of 2018. Though none of these albums deserve to be called anything less than great, it's the third installment in this epic cosmic story that takes the cake. Akróasis was released in 2016, and is probably the most unique of the four.

Very little difference musically can be seen between Cosmogenesis, Omnivium, and Diluvium; they're all Necrophagist-inspired neoclassical technical death metal with a lyrical focus more on science fiction than on cannibalism or necrophilia. Akróasis tones the aggressive guitar shredding down a notch, seemingly choosing to focus signicifantly more on atmosphere than guitar pyrotechnics and crazy polyrhythmic percussion. At the album's best, it combines these two sides of the band seamlessly, as can be clearly heard on the title track.

The songs here are all good, though some stand out as vastly superior to the rest. A song like "Fractal Dimension" can't hold a candle to one like "Ode to the Sun," which features an incredible vocoder melody in the chorus which could very well be the pinnacle of Obscura's career. Many of the songs feature the syncopated string-skipping riffs that they uniquely pull of so well, exemplified in "Sermon of the Seven Suns" and the intro to the title track. "The Monist" and "Ode to the Sun" seem to be attempts at straight-up death metal and plain progressive death metal, respectively, featuring simpler riffs with less sweep picking and fewer time signature changes than the rest.

Production-wise, Akróasis is a solid album. Lightly overdriven "clean" guitars are mixed in with the chunky distortion that would otherwise dominate, giving many songs a muddier feel. The drums are obviously triggered, but the sample set used is much less annoying than it could have been. The bass plays an important role throughout the album, often wandering off into melodic variations of the guitar riffs with some neat fills. Steffen Kummerer's vocals have three distinct styles: a high, raspy scream; layered vocoder harmonies which contribute enormously to the album's atmosphere and the perception that Obscura are largely influenced by Cynic; and and this weird, throaty low growl that I would normally classify as total crap but oddly seems to work here.

Akróasis is a great album, and definitely stand's out from Obscura's other work. From its atmospheric clean guitars to its intense shredding, it offers a diverse range of songs that delve into pretty much every realm death metal has ever dared to adventure. It's a great installment in the band's discography, offering their most unique listening experience to date.

Best songs: All of them, but "Fractal Dimension" is slightly less good than the rest.

(This review was originally written for my personal blog on May 2016).

After five years since their previous release, Obscura came to stake out new horizons about what technical death metal is, and how it should sound. With their fourth studio album they have proclaimed themselves without any doubt as one of the most extraordinary and innovative bands within the subgenre.

Akróasis has a little bit of everything; it has extremely technical moments, as well as a lot of progressive elements. It even contains some melodic elements that easily catch your attention. All of that without musically bragging about too much virtuosity (not that it isn't), making of this album one that has been capable of embedding a lot of different emotions.

Despite being a complex album, Akaróasis is never tedious to hear, compared with technical releases from other technical death metal bands that somehow get to sacrifice the human touch in exchange of trying to sound as much technical as possible, and end sounding like just a group of musicians that trying to play as many notes and beats per minute, but those same bands never get closer to the "warm" feeling of this album. Akróasis also feels very "natural" and musically fluid, to the point that you don't get tired of listening to it, and it even surprises you with every time you listen to it.

I heard the album at least five times before writing this review, and I still can't understand how it is possible to put so much talent and musical complexity in just one album. The instrumental parts are pure perfection, while the vocals and lyrics are fascinating; they involve you into an interstellar journey that you can't just escape from. Something that I also enjoyed particularly were the fretless bass lines, courtesy of Linus Klausenitzer. And believe me, it has a lot of them all over the album.

With all mentioned above it’s easy to refer to this album not only as one of the best of 2016, but also as one that will set new standards, and you can see that with all the new rising bands that try to sound not only like Obscura, but like this album itself.

Finally, what astonished me the most was “Weltseele”, the final track on the album. A fifteen minutes epic song that surpasses everything already established with every second of it. After the first minutes you won't know what's next and one can't imagine what was Obscura thinking with this song, but whatever it was, they achieved it; they created an extraordinary, non-linear and extremely changing piece of music that don't repeat twice, and a song that also could easily be the whole album of any other band that tries to play this particular kind of death metal.

Over the past 5 years, Obscura has undergone many changes. Pretty much the entire band has new members with the exception of the founding frontman, Steffen Kummerer. Thesseling was fired and replaced, and Muenzer and Grossman eventually quit. Obviously, line-up changes like this should bring about some sort of slight musical direction change, and that's exactly what happened. The musicians Steffen hired are trained in more of a progressive style than the "Cosmo-Omni" line-up, so they wrote this less technical and more progressive and grandiose masterpiece, "Akroasis".

This album has so many highlights I don't even know where to start. If you are well-seasoned in tech death classics and the Florida death metal scene, perhaps you may notice that the intro to the first track "Sermon Of The Seven Suns" sounds almost exactly like the intro to "Veil Of Maya" (1993) by Cynic. The vocoder is very rich with chorus effects and really adds to the already huge, huge atmospheric sound this song has during some of its parts, especially that acoustic section around 3 min in or so. If you're the kind of person that likes comparing songs from other albums by the same band, this song could probably be the "Septuagint" here; the epic album opener.

"The Monist" has amazing fretless guitar work by Fountainhead. He really has an interesting and very unique sound about his style. The guitars in this song and "Fractal Dimension" have lots of slides and general slight "out-of-tuneness" to it that gives it a very natural and human feel to it. Not alot of tech or progressive death has that, really making this album stand out.

Possibly the most awaited aspect of this album was the 15-minute closing epic, "Weltseele". I'll admit at first listen I didn't think it was very good and that it suffered from too much of the "Early Opeth Effect" in how the song is very long, disjointed and seems like a bunch of small "songettes" that are glued together with silence or decent transitions. However, after a few listens you can begin to memorize parts of the song and focus more intently on the individual aspects of the music and that's when you begin to truly see the beauty in this magnificent work of art. According to the liner notes, Fountainhead is mostly responsible for writing this one. Props to him, this may be his magnum opus!

The production, however, is possibly the best Obscura has achieved so far in their whole career. According to Wikipedia, the guitars and bass were recorded using their live rigs, thus everything is a bit more soft sounding, so the high frequencies aren't as punchy and overly bright. You probably know what this means. You can play this album at louder levels without it hurting your hearing! In all seriousness, the production of this album has made it better suited for a fantastic listener experience. Alot of people say that Steffen's vocals are far too abrasive and that they detract from the overall experience listening to Obscura. May I redirect you to "Akroasis"? Sure they were pretty rough on "Cosmogenesis", but on "Akroasis" they tend to be a bit more refined and natural sounding. Despite being slightly louder in the mix, Steffen's screams and growls blend in with the music more here and don't stand out like a sore thumb like some contest.

The snare doesn't sound like some metallic toy thing like on Omnivium, instead its a bit more down-tuned, and has a bit more body to it. It perhaps sounds more powerful than on previous albums, but has this odd quality about it when Sebastian plays blast beats, which isn't necessarily a take-away, but something you notice if you really focus on it. The bass drums are pretty standard sounding, perhaps a little more slappy then they were on "Cosmogenesis" and "Omnivium", but otherwise they are what bass drums should sound like on a progressive death metal album. Punchy, lots of high end attack, but not lacking in actual LF response. Nothing really stands out about the cymbals; they tend to fall where they should be in the mix. The bell hits on the rides tend to poke out a bit during softer parts of the album, which is a plus.

As mentioned above, the guitar and bass were recorded with a different approach, thus making the guitars a tad bit more "padsy" and slightly more synth-like. This has its advantages, allowing more of the feature elements of the album to peak through and shine more. Same with the bass. Plenty of mid-range to go around with Linus' bass sound here. If there was one word I was to use to describe how the bass sounds, I'd have to say it sounds "organic."

This album is a contender for, if not considered the best metal album of 2016. This has to be Obscura's finest hour. I have yet to find an album more brutal, technical and grand all at once than this. Steffen has already announced that he's writing songs for their next album. Question is, how can he possibly top this?

My personal favorites:

All the songs of course! If I had to pick favorite favorites,

Sermon Of The Seven Suns (very favorite)
Ten Sepiroth
Ode To The Sun
Perpetual Infinity

A decade ago, Obscura was just another unassuming technical death metal band that emerged following the wave of Necrophagist-inspired death metal outfits. Come 2007, Hannes Grossmann and Christian Muenzner, both former musicians of Necrophagist themselves, joined Jeroen Thesseling and founder Steffen Kummerer to release ‘Cosmogenesis’.

‘Cosmogenesis’ was a hit, particularly for fans of technical death metal – a niche genre with a small but unabashedly loyal following. A more promising debut couldn’t have been imaginable; Obscura were virtuosos capable of writing more than just writing technical music, but releasing songs that were cohesive, structurally familiar and memorable.

In 2011, Obscura released what I consider to be a masterpiece of death metal musicianship – Omnivium. This album seamlessly wove neo-classical, black metal and hook-ish riffs into deliciously refined technical death metal. Most technical death metal is either a collection of guitar and drum exercises that exhaust most listeners. Instead, Omnivium stood out because Obscura wrote structurally cohesive songs that elegantly incorporated virtuosity.

As per the adage, ‘all good things must come to an end’, and so did the line-up that produced these fine records. Fretless-bass extraordinaire Jeroen Thesseling was unceremoniously fired and replaced by Linus Klausinitzer (NonEuclid, Alkaloid). Soon thereafter, Muenzner and Grossmann both announced their departures due to both medical handicap (in the case of Christian) and creative differences (in the case of both Christian and Hannes). Hannes, clearly the creative godfather of Omnivium, states that he suffered for his over-productivity, meaning he should either take a fully creative foothold or leave. Both Christian and Hannes went to form a mouthwatering line-up with uber-talented guitarists Morean, Danny Tunker and Klausinitzer (who remains with Obscura) to form Alkaloid.

In the place of Muenzner came Fountainhead, a guitar genius known for his fretless-guitar work. In place of the prodigious Hannes Grossmann comes the relatively unknown (at least in metal) Sebastian Lanser. Funny enough, after ‘Akroasis’ was recorded, Fountainhead too was fired. Bizarrely, not a word of his departure was mentioned until the ‘Akroasis’ teasers were released, and we find out that his replacement is a very young but talented Rafael Trujilo.

So lets look at this behemoth of a record, ‘Akroasis’. To be frank, it was unclear to me how this new Obscura would sound – Klausinitzer and Lanser hadn’t actually written any major songs I was aware of prior to joining Obscura. Fountainhead is a prog freak, so I expected some proggier, epic stuff with string sections.

‘Akroasis’ definitely contains the hallmarks of what Obscura always wanted to sound like. The first song, ‘The Sermon of The Seven Suns’ introduces this perfectly – flamboyantly energetic, unrestrained technical death heaven. Soon thereafter there is the title track, which is quintessential Obscura with a bit of Devin Townsend in the mix – a scintillating combination.

The album also contains the Necrophagist inspired “Fractal Dimension”. Unsurprisingly, this is a Steffen Kummerer song, and oozes with some of the tastiest combinations of ‘hook’-riffs and guitar passages Obscura have released hitherto. ‘Ten Sepiroth’ is another clinger, it is an absolute winner with a visceral chorus section, a nice addition of voice decoder (think Cynic) and melodic techy riffage.

We are also treated to an epic fiesta of cathartic music – ‘Weltseele’. This is truly a masterpiece, featuring an extensive string section that ventures into uncharted territory to Obscura. It starts slow, progressively building the intensity and musicianship before descending into a beautifully crafted string section, before unleashing extreme metal hell. ‘Weltseele’ speaks volumes of the songwriting maturity of the band, and given that it is 15 minutes long, it could well have been an EP of its own.

However, Akroasis contains songs that are, to say the least, quite strange. The aforementioned songs are what we would expect from an album that predominantly features Kummerer’s songwriting, and not Grossmann. A justification, however, must be made for the unflattering tracks nudged in between these songs. ‘The Monist’ immediately comes to mind – this must rank as some of the least energetic music Obscura have written.

Similarly, ‘Perpetual Infinity’, which sounds like a nod to Cynic more than anything else, is boring and uninspired. ‘Ode To The Sun’ starts sounding like an overproduced Morbid Angel track, but gets better as you realize that this is actually a good live song with a very memorable chorus featuring a mix of clean/voice decoder. Despite this, I also found that it didn’t really warrant a place on the record.

My issue with Akroasis is simple – it’s inconsistent, and it dropped the inherent ingenuity of previous Obscura records. There are no ‘fillers’ on this record, but it seems the band tried complementing faster, more technical songs by placing slower ones between them. I think most fans do enjoy sonic diversity (this is actually the only attribute ‘Omnivium’ lacked), but clearly, reinventing a formula so drastically is very disappointing. Obviously, Kummerer has a hand in every song now and maybe this just reflects the fact that he isn't as good of a songwriter as Hannes Grossmann.

Furthermore, ‘Akroasis’ emphasizes particular aspects of ‘Cosmogenesis’, often at the expense of the hard work done on Omnivium. Omnivium built several layers of complex guitar riffs atop one another, and it often seemed that both guitars were more divergent than extreme metal guitars typically sounded like. The riffs on ‘Akroasis’, much like ‘Cosmogenesis’, are more condensed and hook-ish.

Also like 'Cosmogenesis', the influences are sometimes laid bare. 'Cosmogenesis' was arguably as fine a debut imaginable, yet still received criticism for occasionally sounding too much like Necrophagist, Cynic or Death. I feel ‘Akroasis’ warrants this same criticism.

On a side note:

Let me leave a final comment about the guitar solos on this record. Akroasis has the best leads I have heard on a death metal record, period. You simply run out of superlatives when describing how tastefully crafted Fountainhead's playing is. The man had enormous shoes to fill, but in terms of guitar solos, he is simply a level above everyone else at the moment.

There has been a lot going on with this band within the last six years, but they have finally been able to put it aside and release an album. I was sort of worried about that, as when a band has not made music for this long, it tends to lose its touch. My expectations for this album were rather high, as I greatly enjoyed Omnivium. While I do not find this album to be at exactly the same level, I still find it to be a good one. Sure, it has its flaws, but I still enjoyed it quite a bit. Similar to the Abbath album that was released earlier this year, one-half of this album is stronger than the other. However, unlike that album, the other half is still solid. But I always prefer it when the second half is better, as it makes the music stronger as it goes on, as opposed to getting weaker. This album does the latter. Although the opener of this album is not its best track, it reaches its pinnacle before the first half is over.

This whole album can not really be 100% represented by one track alone, but the closest thing to it would be the opener of the album. It starts off to be a more melodic track, but it later dives into brutal epicness. The melody comes back into the chorus, but that is the only area. I would say that this is a highlight for me, as it showcases the varied level of songwriting in quite a titanic effect. This album does not really focus all that much on what melodies lie within itself, but that keeps it at the crushing level and aggressive nature that it is destinated at. The only exception of this would be the most epic track of the album, which is the title track. I would say that this is the most accessible track for those who may possibly experience some difficulties when attempting to get into this album. It is my personal favorite track, as it feels the most straightforward and centered on its direction. It contains a lot of sweep-picking and the fretless bass has quite a presence. Some could find favor in the catchy main riff, but my loyalties lie mainly with the lead guitar work. As outlandish as it may sound, it gives the song the epic feel that it goes for.

Epicness really seems to be the album's main focus, although there is one exception. Another highlight of mine, "Ode to the Sun" showcases a more slow-tempo, death metal sound with riffs that sound quite influenced by acts such as Morbid Angel or Carcass. It is the least melodic track, with the exception of the ending, which is actually quite beautiful. It sounds quite dissonant, due to the melodic guitar work and robotic vocals, which are also found in the chorus of "The Monist", which is one of the strangest (and most enjoyable) moments of the album to me. But the most outlandish nature of the album comes in on the final track, "Welsteele". This is a 15-minute epic that possesses structures quite similar to those of discordant classical music. Hardly anything here is repeated and many of the instruments are firing away from each other, each doing its own thing. It seems These moments within the track are not prominent, however, there are a few of those moments. Most of this track is quite beautiful, despite the strange and often aggressive nature of it. It seems like an overall great way to close this album. It will likely satisfy other progressive metal fans, due to the length and virtuosity, but I feel as though there is more to it than that.

I would say that the main thing that keeps this album away from a perfect score is that sometimes, the music lacks direction. I don't mind when things sound weird, but there are moments when each element is completely separated from the others and it makes it very difficult to comprehend. It doesn't exactly go together. When things are as discordinant as they sometimes are here, they need to be in line with each other, otherwise, it turns into technical masturbation. If these moments were more in line with the rest of the music, this album would quite likely receive a score of 94%. A lot of this is truly masterful and full of greatness, but these moments on the record can get quite annoying and confusing. Not that it gets to this very often, but this album would be better without them, to the point of me considering it to be a masterpiece.

This album as a whole is a very enjoyable listen for those who can get into it. When you do, you realize just how full of dynamics and epicness it really is. It isn't quite as great as its predecessor, but it still is a damn good album, in my personal opinion. I am going to keep my eye on this band, as they continually deliver to their fans very fine product. This is my second favorite album by them, but I feel as though if they combine the real dynamics of this album with the last, they could deliver an album that is 97% or above, possibly even obtaining perfection with their music. There are those who will criticize (or simply dismiss) this album for its strange nature, but for the most part, I enjoy it. If you can get past the few flaws present within this record, you will realize just how fine of a piece of music this really is. Another album that showcases that Obscura is aware of the correct ways to create fantastic progressive death metal.

Highlights:
-Sermon of the Seven Suns
- The Monist
-Akróasis
-Ode to the Sun
-Welsteele

Five years after the absolute beast of an album that was Omnivium, many a thing had happened in Obscura. There was a creative falling out between former drummer Hannes Grossmann and Steffen Kummerer, so Hannes made a solo album of his own Obscura-esque material a few months before officially leaving Obscura. Former guitarist Christian Muenzner had been diagnosed with focal dystonia, meaning he could no longer keep up with Obscura's touring schedule. Even before Akróasis was even announced, guitarist Tom Geldschlager was ejected from the band for a wide variety of reasons (one of which being an even harsher falling out than what Steffen had with Hannes) before the band randomly announced Rafael Trujillo as a new guitarist. All of these tumultuous events, but how did that fare on the album they went onto record?

Well, despite the drawbacks, delays, and chaos, Akróasis turned out to be a fuck of an album. I could describe it as the melodic elements of Cosmogenesis intermixed with the progressive ferocity of Omnivium (which wouldn't be an inappropriate description), but that simply wouldn't do justice to many of the tracks on this album. Akróasis is an experience of its own, and while it certainly would please those who liked their past material, the words I personally would use to describe the feelings I get when I listen to this album are broad, monstrous, ecstatic, and meditative.

Akróasis is broad-sounding because the soundscapes painted are immediately noticed in the opening track, Sermon of the Seven Suns, as being aggressive and raw, but also mesmerizing. Plenty of other songs - The Monist, Ten Sepiroth, and Fractal Dimension chief amongst them - present the listener with dynamic songwriting and variation. For example, in Fractal Dimension, we're presented with two choruses loaded with blast beats and Steffen's signature tech death riffs, but then at the end we get a much slower, commanding tom roll and double-bass salad of drum grooviness over top of the same bassline and guitar riffs we heard previously. This side-stepping songwriting is again seen in Ten Sepiroth, this time with blast beats for the first chorus, blast beats and then a slower drum beat the 2nd time, and then just the slower drum beat the 3rd time. This makes the songs much more interesting and dynamic, and makes me wanna pay attention much longer.

Akróasis is monstrous-sounding because it makes use of more organic production. The band only used their live equipment while recording this album, recorded demos instead of programming Guitar Pro files, and used a variety of other musical instruments beyond guitars, bass guitars, and drums (violins, violas, double bass, a monochord, and something else in Ode to the Sun which sounds like a hammer knocking on a bell; not sure what it's called). This is particularly prevalent in Ode to the Sun where the Morbid Angel-esque sludginess of the guitars commands a good headbanging rhythm; this one is sure to be a good live song. Another place this monstrous aesthetic becomes obvious is in the drum department. Sebastian Lanser's drums sound open, organic, lively. This is especially a good thing when you consider this guy is playing grooves, beats, fills, and other nuances that not even Hannes Grossmann bothered to try (don't worry Hannes, you're still my favorite drummer). My favorite part is how much of a "pop" Sebastian's snare makes on this album.

Akróasis sounds ecstatic and meditative because it interfuses the melodic elements of Cosmogenesis with the progressive ferocity of Omnivium. I know I just said that wasn't the best description a few paragraphs earlier, but let me explain. Many of the songs interweave acoustic and clean guitars amidst the standard electric rhythm guitars, almost making a harp-like texture to whatever is being played. In a few sections, Linus's basslines sound exactly like something I would've expected (former bassist) Jeroen Paul Thesseling to play on the previous two albums. Tom Geldschlager's use of fretless guitars for both rhythm playing (Sermon of the Seven Suns, The Monist, Fractal Dimension) and lead playing (many songs on this album) are mind-bending, especially with his phrasing. The title track is especially ripe with all of these elements I described here for its oscillation between tech death aggression, melodic and harmonic beauty, and progressive songwriting style; every instrument works together to weave a soul-soothing web of energy, grace, and even mind-fuckery in the solo section.

All four of those words - broad, monstrous, ecstatic, and meditative - are best applied to the 15-minute epic that is Weltseele. The peaceful acoustic intro is briefly accompanied by fretless bass and a jazz fusion drum beat before introducing the meat of the song, which is signified by broad, breathing chords and a militaristic snare beat; it quickly becomes obvious you're about to hear the best Obscura song ever made. A technical-sounding triplet section nudges its head before going onto what are actually some very simple-sounding guitar riffs and a pretty standard double bass drum beat. Throughout the musical adventure whose name is German for "World Soul", we're greeted with monochords, a string section, more acoustic guitars, and a meditative fretless guitar solo before monstrous blast beats and dissonant chords slap us in the face with unexpected aggression. Shortly thereafter we get a bizarre but ecstatic guitar lead that pushes into another militaristic snare beat, before we're greeted with a sort of bittersweet-sounding 3/4 section before the song finally ends. All of those emotions are exactly why, despite being on an Obscura album and being partially co-written by Linus Klausenitzer, I consider Weltseele a Tom Geldschlager song moreso than an Obscura song. Tom was going through a chaotic time in his life, and you can feel his pain, his longing for peace, and all he endured during this period of his life while listening to this metal masterpiece.

Lastly, depending on what version of the album you got, your closing tracks were either The Origin of Primal Expression, a thinly-veiled acoustic/electric tribute to Death's Voice of the Soul (which also had electric lead guitars overtop of acoustic guitars); or you got the droning yet mind-calming Melos, which is just Tom enchanting us with his commendable fretless guitar work. Both of these closing tracks are meditative and ecstatic in their own rights.

Akróasis is a much more ambitious album than Cosmogenesis and Omnivium. It takes all the exact same elements of their past works but rearranges them in new ways, with new production methods, songwriting processes, and by taking more risks and introducing more elements to make this a staunchly different-sounding effort than in the past. My only real complaints were that a few of the songs had a lot of tempo changes, which while the individual sections sounded good to me, overall it felt really inconsistent and subtracted from my ability to fully appreciate the actual song as a whole (Perpetual Infinity being the worst offender in this case). Sometimes it worked, like in Sermon of the Seven Suns, sometimes I didn't mind (Fractal Dimension), but generally I'd prefer my music to do these sorts of switch-ups a little more sensibly. Still, that doesn't change the fact that Akróasis is poised to become one of the best albums of 2016, and probably already is the best album. So yeah, needless to say I strongly recommend listening to this.