Welcome to Demo:listen, your weekly peek into the future of underground metal. Whether it’s death, grind, black, doom, sludge, heavy, progressive, stoner, retro, post-, etc. we’re here to bring you the latest demos from the newest bands. On this week’s Demo:listen, we find ourselves strapped to the conveyor belt and headed straight toward the chopping blades and fiery maw of Richmond’s Obscurae.
Obscurae
The ever-versatile C. Davis (The Ritualist, ex-Hour of 13, ex-ANU, etc.) returns from his shadowy keep once again to display his protean mastery of the metal arts. Just over a month ago we premiered The Ritualist, his latest incarnation of true doom here at Demo:listen, and now the honor is ours to bring you something completely different from the Davis camp. Sad, pathetic world, meet Obscurae.
Davis relates that he “demised” his previous black metal band ANU after he felt that the “ethic” had been lost in that project. We’re not sure which “ethic” he means, nor do we care to second guess a man of his stature, but according to Davis, Obscurae, by using “bombastic songwriting” and “mechanical electronic elements,” represents “the cold, depressive degeneration of a world plagued by industrialization.” And let us tell you: the outcome is nothing short of terrifying, like waking from a nightmare of evisceration only to find that you are in way worse circumstances. But don’t take our word for it. Envision the painful torture for yourself.
Together with Night Magic/Vorator’s bassist M. Davis (no relation, “just a coincidence”), C. Davis has crafted, in just five songs, a consummate marriage of immolating black metal and blood-freezing ambience. The mechanized drums propel the music to inhuman velocities while synth-scapes surge and rise like the chop of some turbulent sea of molten lead. And if that doesn’t sound like the USBM you’ve heard lately, you’re not alone. Davis says he and M. “created Obscurae . . . to reclaim the forgotten lands of early USBM.”
Obscurae’s demo Ensomhet (meaning “solitude” in Norwegian) will see a cassette release from Worht Records in the coming months. In the meantime you can stay within harm’s reach by heading over to Obscurae’s Bandcamp and showing your support.
You heard it here first on Demo:listen. Check back next and every Friday for promising new metal.
