Artist: Obscentum
Country: USA
Label: Self-Released
Formats: Digital Demo
Year: 2025
While its inception dates back a few years, ‘From Black Blood To Occult Flames’ is only the first recording that was publicly released by Obscentum, yet another musical outlet for Terrance Hubbard. This prolific musician is active in a few hands full of bands and projects, most of them helmed solely by himself, and, honestly, not everything is equally interesting. But when this project was introduced as an “occult Black/Doom” project, my interest was piqued right away. However, I’m not sure who exactly thought that was an appropriate description, because it’s not at all.
Either we do have a completely different definition of what “Black/Doom” is, or “Doom” as a whole, but in my book ‘From Black Blood To Occult Flames’ is a mind-blowing mixture of the wildest and most chaotic Black/Death Metal and Black/Noise. This is one of the most challenging pieces of music I’ve come across lately – and, frankly, this is hands down the most interesting thing Hubbard ever put to the table. This sounds as if Abruptum jams through a cover set of Revenge covers. I am confident that this is more than one bridge too far for the average metal fan, but those who tend to seek their solace within the darkest and noisiest Black Metal or the harshest Power Electronics and Noise might do themselves a favour to check this out.
Regardless of the musical direction you are approaching Obscentum, it will be a real challenge to wrap your head around this beast. There are hardly any instruments to be distinguished, if any at all, and everything has melted into a large, terrifying mass of swirling nightmares and demonic soul -shredders. This is when noise and overall ugliness becomes art. This is definitely not for the faint-hearted.
