Band:	Obliteration
Album:	Black Death Horizon
Style:	Death metal
Release date:	November 2013

01. The Distant Sun (They Are The Key)
02. Goat Skull Crown
03. Transient Passage
04. Ascendance
05. Sepulchral Rites
06. Black Death Horizon
07. Churning Magma

I usually tend to shy away from death metal in its current incarnation, finding many of today's acts as being more concerned with upholding the often stale standards of the genre than with injecting them with a fresh, modern twist. It's album's like Obliteration's Black Death Horizon that make me reexamine this perhaps hasty jump to conclusions, and give it a serious run for its money.

A four piece hailing from none other than Kolbotn, Norway (the home town of Darkthrone), the unquestionable charm of Obliteration, especially on this latest release, has to lie in their sophisticated manipulation of mood and tempo. Opener "The Distant Sun (They Are The Key)" kicks off with a slow, doom-like pacing, creating an atmosphere of gradually being dragged into a vile, decaying tomb. Much like Obituary with Cause Of Death, a good chunk of Black Death Horizon dwells in this delivery of thick, heavily pulsating riffs that could easily knock you over a wall. The technique helps to create an excellent vibe of variation, and builds anticipation for Obliteration to up the ante and deliver the goods.

And deliver they do, for as could be expected, Black Death Horizon also grounds itself firmly in aggressive, take-no-prisoners death metal territory, which both pays tribute to many of extreme metal's forefathers while not sounding too much like them either. Whether it's a head nod to Kreator ("Goat Skull Crown"), some Mayhem-esque drumming ("Sepulchral Rites"), or the sinister vocals of Sindre Solem that tap back into the glory days of Venom and Celtic Frost, it all comes together to form one frightening hell ride through a massive burial mound.

Despite these similarities, Black Death Horizon is by no means just another cookie cutter death metal release. Obliteration don't really imitate the bands of yesterday as much as they specifically pick which ingredients they like from certain ones, carefully cannibalizing them and spitting them out in the form of one cleverly cohesive whole. The diversity of speed, combined with a delightfully evil atmosphere of haunting nights and rotten corpses (see instrumental "Churning Magma," especially) help to make Obliteration's third full length one of the most pleasantly surprising death metal albums of 2013. If you've been looking for an album that combines a great old-school sound with a crisp, modern update, look no further, because this is it.