Italian act The Great Observer unleash a debut steeped in death metal’s darkest traditions and most volatile mutations.

THE GREAT OBSERVER

Emerging from the depths of Italy’s death metal underbelly is The Great Observer. They’re a quartet act whose band members have cut their teeth in a raft of other metal bands. This wholly reflects in this debut album as it cuts across a swathe of genres.

The cover art, by bassist Claudio Scialabba, sets the album’s grim ethos with bleak toning and nightmarish imagery. Conceptually, it explores the consequences of God’s death and the ensuing collapse in civilisation that could prevail.

The apocalyptic opener is Parénklisis (Fallen Into Existence). It blends brooding atmospherics with a razoring guitar sound. This feeds into the title track which smashes in with vitriolic violence. The thrash like guitar sound enhances the venomous nature. Potent, echo-tinged, vocals cast a ghostly shadow, amplifying the hostile momentum.

SENTENCED AT HIGH NOON

That thrash toning pervades throughout, as Sentenced At High Noon proves; its acrid mordancy lifts the viciousness without full-tilt speed, driving the song with profuse vehement energy. There is a rawness too evoking 80s Brazilian deathrash from the likes of Sarcofago, Mutilator or even debut album Sepultura. That primitive nature thrusts into Herald Of Thorns where the blasted speed creates a tumultuous bombardment. Sometimes chaotic but always controlled How Far The Faithless Will Venture opens with a isolated bass that feeds into the gnarly riff. The production has a skin stripping sound that is higher in tone than you would normally expect in death metal.

AT THE SUMMIT OF CONSCIOUSNESS

At The Summit Of Consciousness, opens with a ravenously addictive riff. It’s a riff brushed with crust grit and packed with drum fills as a steady mid-tempo pace is broken by occasional flurries. Its screaming lead breaks hark back to 80’s warp speed fret work as a bridging interlude Ékstasis (The Lonesome Path) casts a portentous haze that leads into the caustic riff of Impervious Creation. The ominous drum work ratchets the tension until the song swerves neatly into rabid deathrash unleashing cavernous vocals and scathing rage. The Weight Of Being Free had me scribbling Hallucinating Anxiety, the debut by Norway’s Cadaver, and though the production is markedly better here it has a primeval rawness about it. This leaves the title track to conclude with a tonal shift where a more atmospheric start feeds into a dissonant and unnerving riff with macabre vocals.

Loss Of Transcendence ends as it began, unrelenting death metal that fuses apocalyptic chaos with dread filled intensity and terror.

The Great Observer: Bandcamp

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