OBLIVIONIZED: “LIFE IS A STRUGGLE, GIVE UP”

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Apr 242015
 

 

(Austin Weber reviews the latest release by London’s Oblivionized.)

Grindcore isn’t a metal genre typically associated with complex songwriting or accomplished musicianship. Which is usually fine, as that’s not the essence of the style or the reason why fans of grind listen to it. But every once in awhile a grind band like Oblivionized comes along with the drive and ambition to develop a sound that consists of more than straightforward 30-second beatdowns and endless power chords.

This London-based trio have generated numerous smaller demo, EP, and split releases over the years and have only now released their first full-length, Life Is a Struggle, Give Up. The wait for an album-length statement from the group was definitely worth it, though, as the band had already spent several years tinkering around and playing a lot of different sounding material, which they have distilled into a mature, cohesive, and eclectic sound here on Life Is a Struggle, Give Up. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: OBLIVIONIZED — “CRY YOURSELF TO ASH”

 Premieres  8 Responses »
Feb 062015
 

 

The head-wrecking, head-twisting grind trio from London known as Oblivionized are nearing the release of their debut album Life Is A Struggle, Give Up, and today we’ve got the premiere of an official music video for one of the new songs — “Cry Yourself To Ash”.

We’ve been following Oblivionized pretty closely, reviewing their debut EP (here) back in 2011, their second EP (here) in 2012, and one of their contributions to a split with Plague Widow in 2013 (here). They’ve already amply proven their ability to vent fury with megawatt power and technical intricacy, but this track is a good example of the band’s ability to put some interesting twists and turns into their ferocity. Continue reading »

NEW MUSIC (Part 2): A HILL TO DIE UPON, THORNGOTH, AND OBLIVIONIZED

 Free Shit, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Feb 102013
 

Here’s our second installment, with one more coming, of a Sunday smorgasbord of new metal for your entertainment and edification. Once again, we’re graced with brand new music from three old favorites around these parts. Let’s cut right to the chase:

A HILL TO DIE UPON

This Illinois band is a big favorite of ours; all of our previous ravings about them can be found here. Their last album, 2011’s Omens, garnered these words of praise from Andy Synn: “One of this year’s great discoveries, A Hill To Die Upon ply their trade in the bloodstained arena of blackened death metal, taking their cues from the crushing power of Satanica-era Behemoth and the decaying grooves of Sheol-era Naglfar all wrapped up in a monumental package of fire-brand riffage and pulsing drums that recalls Immortal in their prime.”

Yesterday, A Hill To Die Upon released a new single named “manden med leen”, which can be acquired for the dirt-cheap price of $1 on Bandcamp. The mid-paced song is majestic and magnetic (in part due to the effective addition of keyboards to the band’s repertoire), and includes an unexpected and quite interesting acoustic-sounding interlude. But at its core it still rips and crushes. Killer stuff. Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: OBLIVIONIZED – “NULLIFY THE CYCLE”

 Album Reviews  4 Responses »
Mar 102012
 

Last August, I went nuts over Abhorrent Evolution, the debut EP by a London-based collective with the apt name of Oblivionized. I compared the listening experience to “being backed against a wall with a firehose spewing sulphuric acid at full force, straight at your unprotected self” and called the music “super-charged metal at a hyperdrive pace, a tech-grind portrait of the 7th Circle of Hell, music with the sensibilities of a ravenous demon horde set loose after a milennial imprisonment.” And there were more metaphors.

Now there are more songs. Oblivionized has just released a new three-song EP called Nullify the Cycle through Grindcore Karaoke, which has made the music available for free download on Bandcamp (in exchange for your e-mail address).

Oblivionized prove again that they are a band to watch very closely. Listening to “The Nullification of Philanthropy” and “Cycle of Deprivation” is like being dropped without warning into a war zone. Combining an array of corroded, swirling guitar leads and vicious chugs, the band vent their fury with megawatt power. But the music isn’t an explosion of chaos. It’s technically demanding and filled with sharp changes in rhythm; this mechanized assault is well-coordinated and impressively executed. Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: OBLIVIONIZED

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  5 Responses »
Aug 272011
 

Oblivionized could hardly have chosen a better name for themselves, because that’s how you’ll feel after listening to their debut EP, Abhorrent Evolution. It’s music made for those times when you’re in the mood for head-whipping self-destruction. Fair warning: it’s also the kind of song collection that causes me involuntarily to spew forth a froth of mixed metaphors. So, the English majors in the audience may want to take a sedative before reading further.

This is demonic deathgrind. I listen, and I think about being backed against a wall with a firehose spewing sulphuric acid at full force, straight at my unprotected self. Massively distorted guitars that shriek and crush. Cleaner guitar leads that slither like fat white worms that haven’t had their fill of coring yet. Gut-rumbling bass picking that’s faster than a famished cheetah on the trail of a doomed antelope with blood in the wind.

Bullet-paced drumming that may possibly be the most riveting sound on the whole fuckin’ album. Vocals that sound utterly deranged — a cacophony of shrieking and roaring, the sound of people being torn apart mixed with the gory growls of whatever supernatural things are doing the tearing, and the eating. Abhorrent Evolution is super-charged metal at a hyperdrive pace, a tech-grind portrait of the 7th Circle of Hell, music with the sensibilities of a ravenous demon horde set loose after a milennial imprisonent. And more metaphors. (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »