EP REVIEW: Beyond Oblivion – Transgressor

Tokyo’s TRANSGRESSOR may have been among the very first extreme metal bands to form in Japan, but they have never gone on to wider acclaim. This is due in no small part to their numerous hiatuses and the long stretches between new releases that come as a result of that. Most of their discography is made up of demos and splits, the most notable of which is a 1999 split with the legendary IMPETIGO, with the band’s sole album, 1992’s Ether for Scapegoat, being a great hidden gem that deserves wider attention. The band’s latest EP, Beyond Oblivion, is an impressive slab of old school death metal, hampered somewhat by an off-kilter production, but remains impactful nonetheless, standing as the band’s first new record featuring new material in close to three decades.

Death Heaven starts proceedings in an energetic manner, with technical, soaring guitars and thunderous drums creating a powerful start to the record, before the music shifts towards a denser, rhythmic sound with a classic death metal feel that couples crushing hooks and harsh vocals that are a little bit too high up in the mix, and somewhat off-putting when set against the tighter production applied to the music. It’s got the sort of coarse edge and punk-inflected beat that makes so much old school death metal so impressive, blending together intensity and melody extremely well, making this fierce and memorable in equal measure.

Stuck In Limbo, a similarly long and ponderous offering, opts for a chaotic and visceral style, with brutal bursts being counterpointed by dark, droning death-doom passages, making this a much more varied and immersive song, with a monstrous and heavy sound that’s easy to get engrossed in. Again, the vocals, when they do appear, ruin the effect of the music that backs them, but luckily the track has enough brilliant hooks and twists and turns within it to stop this from being too distracting, and the higher vocals complement what’s on display a lot better than the throatier gutturals.

Infiltration is a ponderous and brooding effort with some great, sombre leads and a muscular guitar and bass sound that sets a far more dramatic tone to the music, with the dense nature of the track once again leaning a little more prominently into death-doom, and being all the more impressive as a result. The lack of vocals allows the music to take centre stage, and it’s hard not to get drawn in by the classic, melancholic sound on offer.

For Nothing serves as an excellent segue, with haunting acoustic guitars, stripping away all but the barest elements of death metal and creating a powerful and memorable break from the rest of the record that is incredibly immersive, standing apart from the rest of the tracks whilst adding a different kind of darkness into the mix. Vision Of Carcass, another shorter piece, reverts to old school death metal, with the cacophonous hooks and visceral pace making this arguably one of the album’s most intense affairs, and thankfully the vocals aren’t as overbearing as they were on the first two tracks, fitting more seamlessly into the music rather than distracting from it.

Like a lot of records that are a little unpolished, the musicianship on Beyond Oblivion is extremely solid, and hard to find fault with. The band’s brand of sludgy death-doom is brilliant when embraced fully, and even the pure death metal parts have the sort of timeless feel and raw energy that has made so many old school death metal acts stand the test of time. The EP’s one downfall is in its production, especially with regards to the mix of the vocals, which are often so high within the sound that they at times drown out the music, drawing focus away from the song as a whole and drowning out some of the undoubtedly great musical flourishes. With a slightly more measured mix, this EP could have been far more impressive, and it’s a shame that it’s the production, as opposed to the music, that has hampered this record, as it’s clear, even in spite of this one glaring downside, just how good TRANSGRESSOR are as a band.

Rating: 7/10

Beyond Oblivion is out now via Me Saco Un Ojo Records/Sewer Rot Records/Unholy Domain Records.

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