Serbia's Obscured are the aural equivalent of a blunt instrument striking you repeatedly, very primal and bare boned death metal which occasionally veers off into a pure thrashing rhythm. They are simple in the way that a band like Six Feet Under approaches the material, yet the use of both death and black metal vocals, grind and thrash gives them an expansive sound.That being said, the three tracks on the When Darkness Comes demo/promo did not blow me away. "Apocalypse" opens with about 30 seconds of thrash before the gutturals of Khargash enter the fray and the track transforms into this moshing, old school death metal rhythm, broken by some grinding bridges with blacker vocals. I liked the band's use of the filtered guitar fill in the verse, but otherwise it wasn't very memorable. "When Darkness Comes" is slower, with some creepy atmosphere behind the big opening chords, and then some simple, grooving guitars. The track has some eerier, sludge-like segments with snarled vocals, and some quicker death/thrash. "Witness of the Last Crucifiction" is anchored by some slower grooves and squeals, you can picture people getting clobbered to this track, but again, it wasn't exactly a standout, though I did like the brief 'march' part near the end.
When Darkness Comes is a great sounding promo, vibrant and bloodletting without excess polish. The band has a varied attack incorporating a number of genres into a simplistic, sledgehammer sound, but the songs on this release didn't quite gel with me aside from a few riffs. Maybe next time.
Verdict: Indifference [6/10]
http://www.myspace.com/obscuredsound
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