ALBUM REVIEW: Triumph Beyond Adversity – Obvurt
OBVURT are a band with a familiar story in modern metal. Guitarist/vocalist Phillipe Drouin originally created the band as a solo project before branching out and recruiting other talented musicians to help take the project out into the wider word. They released their first extended play The Beginning back in 2021 and caught the attention of many people within the technical death metal scene. Now at the back end of 2022 the boys are back with their first full-length effort Triumph Beyond Adversity and are looking to assert themselves as main players in the scene.
Right from the outset this album is a jarring, uncomfortable listen, in the best kind of way. The off kilter, dissonant lead guitar at the beginning of Second Chance makes for an unsettling atmosphere as the chaotic drums of Charlei Arsenault-Tremblay shift rhythmic patterns constantly. Despite the frantic nature of the music, there is a great deal of method within the madness, and everything has its place.
On Invisible Enemy the breakneck speed of the riffs from Drouin and bassist Alexandre Chouinard tie together perfectly and create a ferocious soundscape for the powerful vocals to soar over. The drum/bass break after the first minute and a half is a welcome surprise and gives Drouin a chance to show his virtuoso guitar skills with an impressive sweeping solo. What’s more impressive than the musicianship is the fact that it all flows so seamlessly and doesn’t feel forced or shoehorned in any manner, such is the level of songwriting on display.
The intricate harmonised riffing on Halfway From Theory is one of the highlights of the album. The fact that a single guitarist can sit down and work out all of the musical theory that goes into this sort of songwriting is something that has to be mentioned. This is more than just noise. This is well thought out, surgically precise death metal and the band have nailed the formula here. There is enough technicality to impress and even astound, without ever feeling unnecessary or forced as so many have before.
In the second half of the album the band show no signs of slowing up the pace or giving any kind of reprieve to the listener. One Last Thing is pure sonic battery, chock full of blast beats and intense tremolo riffs. The band are in their groove here, with the water-tight bond between Arsenault-Tremblay and Chouinard being relied on heavily as Drouin unleashes yet another melee of mind-bending lead runs and face-melting solos.
The opening section of the closing track Versus is delivered with real power, with the band swapping their trademark lightning speed for a groovier approach, all to great effect. When the track gets up to its usual galloping speed it is more from the same blueprint as most of the album, with a cavalcade of ferocious riffs and an ever-changing structure. It proves that even at this late stage there is still plenty of fuel in the tank and still plenty of ideas in the band’s seemingly bottomless bag of tricks.
With 2022 drawing to a close, it seems as though 2023 is going to be a big year for the Canadian trio, and with Triumph Beyond Adversity they may well be armed with the weapon they need for domination of the tech-death landscape.
Rating: 8/10
Triumph Beyond Adversity is set for release on December 2nd via Unique Leader Records.
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