Artist: Obeisance
Country: USA
Label: Wit Duivel Records
Formats: CD
Year: 2025
Despite the band has been around for well over three decades and spawns out material on a very regular basis, Obeisance has never been featured on these pages before. And honestly, I only ran into the band when I got the ‘Satanik Shoktroops Auf Doom’ 7” EP that released through Iron Bonehead Productions in 2008. Another confession: I just bought the EP because it was released by that label that I bought basically just everything it released at the time.
But even now, almost twenty years later, the band is still going on and has released a few hands full of albums and (split) EP’s. I can’t say I have heard all of that, but the thing that captivated me while listening to the aforementioned 7” EP is still very much present in today’s Obeisance. Let’s put it this way: if you are looking for some clever, well-composed, refined and overall sophisticated metal, you’d better look elsewhere.
Not before and not now is Obeisance delivering any subtlety or progressive touches of any kind. As ever before, this latest Obeisance album sounds like it was recorded in one take or at least didn’t bother to correct any small mistakes, off-beats or guitars sounding slightly out of tune. That doesn’t mean that these guys are lacking any musical talent, they are just not showing much of that. And, frankly, that is just what makes Obeisance such an overwhelmingly charming band.
Aargh, “charming”. The contrast between the music and that word couldn’t possibly be greater, but somehow it covers what is on offer here on ‘Totaler Krieg Kurzester Krieg’. The band’s mixture of late 80’s Black Metal and furious Thrash still sounds fresh and brimming with primal energy. The blunt force pummelling and savage vocals with the back to basics riffs do remind a bit of early Heretic (The Netherlands). In fact, if you’d add early Countess, Heretic and Bestial Summoning in the old and rusty cauldron it could very well be an album that would feel much in place on the Witches Brew or Barbarian Wrath rosters.
Ugly and simple, but very effective. This is some gnarly Black/Thrash Metal, the way it was meant to be. Just crank out some grainy riffs and bark every song’s title like 666 times and there you have it. Obeisance hasn’t reinvented any wheels before and it is not doing that now, nor will it ever do that in the future. Again, if you look for smooth stuff: get outta here! This is the real deal and, yes, charming as fuck.
