Obscura - New album updates

[chopeth]

The little commentaries at the end of each song are kinda cool.

I don't know about Cosmogenesis but they're in the Omnivium book too.

I have to say that metalsucks are just in it for the clicks and cheap headlines. What they completely left out of this article is the fact that my interview for Londonmetalmonthly is a RESPONSE to Steffen Kummerer´s incredible unprofessional (and unprovoked) accusations and career-hurting bull.... from his own interview in the LMM issue before (and which you can look up online). The magazine kindly asked me to set the record straight about these things afterwards, so I did . metalsucks then jumped on it, smelling a headline they could exploit.
Be that as it may, this wasn´t the only interview of this kind. In the most recent issue of german "Rock Hard" magazing for example he is giving credit to himself and Rafael Trujilo(!) for writing and recording "Weltseele", among other things. Fortunatly, there are laws against this kind of behaviour and since it´s easily proofable that he´s spreading lies on purpose, the german police will end up investigating the issue. In the meantime, I´ll keep it as before: If Steffen keeps spreading bull.... like this, and the magazines themselves ask me to set the record straight, I will.

No offence, Tom, you are absolutely in your right to do that and I only get a glimpse of the pain and hatred all these lies and manipulations are causing you. I understand this is motivating you to actively combat anything suspiciously told about the album, but I think a Muenzner "approach" towards Kummerer here would help you better emotionally. I see both problems aren't even comparable, but I think the solution is equally suitable.

On a side note, the more I listen to the album, the more I think your work in Akroasis is IRREPLACEABLE.

 

[takotakumi]

Awesome! What song are ya gonna start on?



Man, I hope so. I'm like getting a serious case of Obscura withdrawal here.

In the Email they sent me, they said they were gonna send some extra goodies in the package for individuals who ordered the book. What were the goodies that they sent?

For now I've been messing around with a couple of riffs from weltseele, ode, monist but I've been dealing mostly with that intro lead from ten sepiroth.
That lead is reaaaaaally hard but I think I can nail it if I keep practicing

They added an Akroasis Poster, 4 Obscura album stickers, and another Obscura sticker.

 

[takotakumi]

Just wanted to share some find...

I was looking for some cosmogenesis tabs on ultimate guitar and found that someone posted all of akroasis guitar pro tabs as well

I was kinda mad at first since I JUST got the tab book but this means I do not have to scan them to view them in a larger screen hehe

I have not tried them though since I'm still working, gonna check them later tonight if the files work. There are some comments of people saying they have errors loading but dunno if it's the typical error of people trying to open GP6 tabs with GP5...

EDIT UPDATEE********

THEY ALL WORK!

 

[OmegaSlayer]

I'd like to get back the discussion to music.
Tom, you mentioned in the early pages of this topic that in the video of Akroàsis, the sweep section is not played in the position you played it.
It starts on a G#-, but you don't play it on the first 3 strings, but on strings 2-3-4, am I correct?

 

[chopeth]

Great interview of UG with Kummerer:

Steffen Kummerer is not your typical death metal guitar player. As the main architect for Obscura, the German technical death metal band who released "Akroasis," their sixth album, in February of this year, Kummerer has brought a level of complexity and intellectualism to the lyrics few other bands - in any style - have ever realized.

He based the lyrics on the writings of Arthur Schopenhauer, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and Friedrich Schelling, deep-thinking philosophers who spent their entire lives musing about the condition of the world and the people in it. This appealed to the guitarist.

"No one in the band had been interested in mass murder lyrics or the usual social politics," he says. "Or people that live in their own bubble and complain about former girlfriends or political topics. During the first years according to the music, the lyrics formed from a demo band to a more and more sophisticated direction. I am personally interested in those topics and ideas. I love to read ideas of the philosophers, but at the same time physics, astrophysics and religion. Sharing my personal views with an abstract or multilayered concept seems more honest than writing a fun story about murdering your neighbor with a baseball bat."

Kummerer brings those lyric concepts to "Akroasis," an album featuring an entirely new lineup but still maintaining the brutal elements of the previous records. Here, Steffen looks at the development of Obscura - as well as his membership in Thulcandra - and describes his vision for the band and the journey they've taken to arrive at their just-released sixth record.

UG: You actually started playing keyboards when you were nine. Why the change to guitar?

SK: At that age I had been visiting a boarding school for musically talented children in southern Germany and learned to play the piano, sing in a choir, had my first steps in music theory and harmony. The biggest gift of that time was the training of my ears and hearing overall. I profit from that up to this date. When I was a teenager, extreme music attracted me more and more and to be honest, you cannot rock through Death or Dissection songs with a piano so I picked up my first electric guitar at the age of 16 and formed a few months later Illegimitation/Obscura which is still my first band.

What guitarists were you listening to?

Pretty much different guitarists starting from - obviously - Yngwie Malmsteen, Steve Vai and Chuck Schuldiner. As a songwriter and in terms of technics Paul Masvidal (Death/Cynic) and Jon Nödtveidt (Dissection) had a huge share of my work. Especially the eighth note riffing and tremolo techniques combined with more classic harmony work that blends through everything I write. A bit later, John McLaughlin and the Mahavishnu Orchestra opened a new world, Trilok Gurtu and Camel followed to get a different perspective to rhythm and song structures.
"Only a small part of our fans are interested in the lyrics butespecially that small group honors the work I put into every song"

When you formed Obscura, what was your vision for the band?

Writing the music I like. When the band was formed, we had been teenagers listening to all kinds of different extreme music at that time and had to find our own musical direction within the first years. There was not the big aim to become an international touring act or play at this or that big festival. We just worked our way up. We have been grateful for our first tour, our first demo, later an album, a European tour, a second European tour and at a certain point we signed a record deal with Relapse Records and toured around the world. We entered chart positions with every record since and crawling up piece by piece. This attitude is still present and we still work to have things done, but moving forward every year.

You had read what these philosophers had written about? What touched you about their work?

The universal thought within a macro and meta perspective is pretty much present within Goethe, Schelling or Schopenhauer. I did not read all of their works, but most of the known works. Combining those ideas with astrophysics seems rather coherent while adding religion might raise some eyebrows here and there. If you read a bit into the lyrics and combine a few hints, you realize that I invert the religious thoughts in a pretty much chaos-gnostic manner.

Did you think that basing lyrical content on the works of Goethe might be a bit too intellectual or somehow not metal enough for fans?

No, I don't think so. Metal fans are pretty much underrated when it comes to those complex topics. If you like the music it doesn't matter if you are into the lyrics - at least within the prog and tech death scene. Only a small part of our fans are interested in the lyrics but especially that small group honors the work I put into every song and I am grateful for that.

What was it like recording the debut album "Retribution"?

After recording "Illegimitation" in November 2003, this was our first experience in a big studio just a few months later. We recorded the album in Summer 2004 at Mastersound Studios with Alex Krull of Atrocity and Leave's Eyes. We had only limited time to record the album and had to choose the only wrong decision I regret in the history of Obscura.

What was that bad decision?

Recording the album with an electronic drumkit. Jonas Baumgartl, drummer during the first five years, was a pretty much talented musician with a great groove. Unfortunately, it was completely ripped and the drum engineer put every hit 100 percent in the grid, deleted all kind of humanity from the drums and cranked it to the wall. Jonas recorded the preproduction for "Cosmogenesis" in 2006 and just listen to his drumming on "Incarnated." It is a shame and we even thought about rerecording the whole album, but it is what it is. We learned the hard way not to use electronic drums in a production.

How did you approach the recording?

We had been a two-piece in the studio. Jonas recorded his drum parts and left the studio to drive home. I stayed and recorded bass, guitars and parts of the vocals. Stephan Bergbauer joined for a day and recorded "Hymn to a Noctunal Visitor" and V. Santura was part of the production as a friend and helped with some vocals at that time.

Did you like being in the studio?

I learned a lot and Alex Krull and the engineers treated us very well. Although we were teenagers playing loud and extreme music, they treated us with respect and helped to get the best out of everyone. As a side note, Jeroen Paul Thesseling who recorded "Cosmogenesis" and "Omnivium" was meant to record "Retribution" in 2004. Unfortunately he was not available during scheduling conflicts with his work at that time, but we stayed in touch over the years and he joined Obscura in late 2007.

Were you comfortable in the studio?

Yes and no. With the guitars and bass recordings, everything felt right and keeping the deadline was not a big deal. Recording vocals turned into an issue since it didn't feel right somehow. I just took over the position of a singer a few months before, so we doubled most of the vocals with V. Santura. It was a learning experience and helped to shape my singing pretty much in the end. The studio itself was absolutely professional and on a high standard with Alex Krull pushing us every day.

Did you know the kinds of guitar sounds you wanted to create?

The idea was a pretty thick rhythm guitar sound in the vein of Death's "Human" and I think we came pretty close. For that kind of music, I think the guitar sound is killer. Combined with real drums, the record would have gained a wider audience I guess. The arrangements hadn't been that multilayered and the technique was not in focus and the songs had a different structure so the crushing, brutal so to say guitar sound was perfect. We used a Soldano amplifier and a Sansamp and recorded two rhythm guitars with each and added in the mix these two different guitar sounds wherever it was necessary or you needed four rhythm tracks - a technique I still work with up to "Akroasis," our new record.

Was there much experimenting with guitar sounds? Different pedals? Effects? EQs?

For leads we used different analog pedals but no VST Plugins. The rhythm sound went through a long run of outboard equipment but aside from the Soldano and Sansamp for the main sound, I don't remember exactly what effects or EQs we used aside from an old Boss pedalboard for a few leads. That was a decade ago and I am getting old.

You've been playing Ran guitars from the beginning. What do you love about those guitars?

When I was looking for the right guitar as a beginner, either the guitars looked pretty boring, sounded really bad or haven't been balanced at all. Around 2002 or 2003, I bought a pretty cheap guitar from the United States of the brand Hondo, Model H1 and figured the shape fit very well and the guitar seemed balanced although the body looked pretty extreme. The guitar sounded really bad. It had a built-in wrong intonation and turned out to be not a professional instrument.

What did you do then?

A friend recommended Ran Guitars, a small custom shop from Poland, that built him a few axes over the years. So I decided to send the old Hondo as a blue pause to Ran and added the instructions: changes in shape, electrics and the neck I needed. A few months later I got the first out of a row of custom guitars I play up to this date. This first guitar I played during all Death DTA gigs and I loved the instrument as I did since the first day. It lasted 500 shows over a decade and is still in decent shape and good intonation with barely any tuning issues. The quality is perfect and that is the reason why I work with Ran for 13 years now.

"Humankind" is the first song from "Retribution." It's pretty insanely brutal. By choosing this as the opening track, was it meant to sort of introduce fans to the type of music they might be hearing on the album?

The fastest track as opener followed by the slowest song to work with dynamics within the album track list is another example of ideas we established back in the days. We had an acoustic intro, but deleted it within the last day in the mix to get this straight in your face within one second vibe when you put the album in your player.

There are some cool harmony guitars in "Humankind." Can you talk a bit about recording harmony guitars and why you dig that sound?

A good song contains technique, harmony and melody from my understanding. And unison guitar lines seemed rather boring if it was not meant intentionally to focus on a brutal part or lead. Adding harmonies just gives a song another dimension and adds another level in my opinion.

How do you and Markus Lempsch work out guitar parts? How would you describe his role on the "Retribution" album?

Markus joined the band around one year after we recorded the album. He hadn't had any influence on the album. We recorded the preproduction tracks for "Cosmogenesis" and a few covers in 2006 before he moved to another city to work in the music business.

"Hymn to a Nocturnal Visitor" is kind of the epic song on the "Retribution" album. It is brutal but opens with those cool clean guitars and then goes into that wonderful breakdown around 2:27 again with clean guitars and cello from drummer Jonas Baumgartl. Where does that kind of music come from? Were you a fan of cello?

Jonas plays cello excellent and actually that was his first instrument for years before he played drums. We used this instrument on our first demo as well as more of an homage to At the Gates I remember. Working with acoustic instruments started back then and we figured to gain more dynamics with strings and acoustic guitars. We brought this tradition back to life with our new album and finish it with the fifth record to keep things interesting.

What about some of the bands who emulated cello with Mellotron such as King Crimson or Genesis. Did those bands interest you at all?

Genesis and Peter Gabriel definitely, but our influence was clearly At the Gates and their earlier works.

"Sweet Silence" was a beautiful little instrumental with clean, picked guitars. Do you enjoy this side of guitar as well as the heavier, brutal riffs?

"Sweet Silence" turned to be the second instrumental for the band. On every record we kept one song instrumental: "And All Will Come to an End" ("Illegimitation"), "Orbital Elements" ("Cosmogenesis"), "A Transcendental Serenade" ("Omnivium") and "Origin of Primal Expression" ("Akroasis"). This was intentional to bring the focus back on the music or end the record smoothly. And yes, I love acoustic guitars and just bought a new Ibanez a few month ago.

Are you a fan of guitar instrumental music in general?

Sometimes, I love Camel, an old prog rock band or Exivious but not those show off shred records. Interesting for two songs but then something is missing.

Do you ever listen to Jeff Beck? Steve Vai? Yngwie?

Vai and Yngwie more often. "Fire & Ice" was the first Malmsteen record that really got me and later "Marching Out" and "Rising Force" turned into my faves. "Sex & Religion" of Steve Vai was on hot rotation for many years as well. Also Joe Satriani's "Surfing With the Alien" turned out to be one of the albums I jammed with a lot as a teenager. Good music.

Alexander Krull from Atrocity co-produced the album with the band at his Mastersound Studios. Why did you want to work with Alexander? What did he bring to the music?

At the time we listened to Pestilence, Atheist, Death, Nocturnus and all of the old early '90s death metal bands that brought something new to the table. The first two albums of Atrocity, "Todessehnsucht" and "Hallucinations," have been pretty extreme so I reached out to him. I have been in touch with Eric Rutan and Mana Studios, but the flights to the United States have been out of our budget, so we had to turn that idea down pretty quickly. Alex brought his 20-year long experience into the band and helped us especially as an engineer and pushed us to record more and more takes to get the last bit out of the group, which was a job for sure.

The lineup of the band changed completely on the second album, "Cosmogenesis." Did playing with a new group of musicians change the direction of the music?

Everyone in the band, past and present, had their share of the band's sound. The direction did not change but the approach how to play songs changed. When I first met Hannes Grossmann in late 2007, we played a show at Nürnberg Deathfest and pre-formed half of the songs that ended up on "Cosmogenesis." The songs have been the same but adding a fretless bass, neoclassic soloing and a drummer with a different groove and other approaches of playing blast beats, made them feel different. We pushed each other to come up with new ideas or just details. Everyone brought a few songs to the band; we all arranged the tracks together and shared thoughts on this and that. Good times and we made another step forward as a band and started to tour around the globe supporting "Cosmogenesis."

Guitarist Christian Münzner has monster chops and brings a sort of classical feel to the music and his solos. What was it like playing with Christian?

Christian brought most of the lead guitars into "Cosmogenesis" and later "Omnivium," with killer performance and visionary ideas with a neoclassic feeling. We have known each other since 2006 when he was supposed to step in on a last minute job to help out Suffocation who we supported during their European tour. We became friends pretty quick and had been in touch also after the tour. It was a pleasure playing with him about five years in the band, sharing the stage on many tours and recording two great albums together. Good memories.

Christian also came from the school of John Petrucci, Paul Gilbert, et al. Did this impact on your playing in any way?

Yes, I would say so. As a lead guitarist, he has more experience and knowledge, so I looked here and there upon his shoulder to understand a few systems he used and got into his perspective on harmony work. A few ideas had its share on my latest work for "Akroasis."

"Cosmogenesis" is a pretty complex track. Can you talk about how a song like that gets recorded?

This song actually let us choose 7-string guitars first to play it live and later for the following album "Omnivium." I wrote this piece on two different tuned 6-string guitars: one to D standard and one on A standard. To play this song live and not waste any time through changing guitars, we got 7-strings and played our set on one instead of two guitars. Aside from that, "Cosmgoenesis" has been recorded as any other song: first drums, then rhythm guitars followed by bass, leads and vocals.

Ron Jarzombek [WatchTower, Blotted Science] plays a remarkable solo on "Cosmogenesis." What was that like having Ron play the solo?

Jeroen Paul Thesseling brought up the idea to ask Ron joining the band for a guest appearance and that's how we all got in touch with him. He sounds a bit like Brian May of Queen - epic, shredtastic and with ideas out of the box. He really brought a new level to the song. Aside from that, he is a very relaxed, down to earth person and visited one of our shows in Texas years ago. A real guitar hero for me.

Do you like working with outside musicians?

That depends completely on the song or part. Usually, I rather work out something on my own instead of guest musicians. When it comes to strings or choirs, we have to work with more musicians since none of us has 10 different voices or plays all kinds of instruments. In general I don't like session work, projects or anything outside the band - the same goes for Obscura and Thulcandra. Those are the bands, this is the music they create and not what an outsider would bring in. That is the reason why there are no guest musicians on "Akroasis" aside from the string ensemble and choir.

Can you talk about your approach to soloing? Are they worked out? In the moment?

During the last 14 years, I rather focused on playing rhythm guitars and singing along to this complex music. With every album I played a few more leads, learned more and used different techniques to solo overall. My leads are completely worked out and written down before I start recording. I try to pick up a melody or theme from the song and adapt it somehow by adding a few harmony lines and going with the flow of a certain part. There is no need to show off through every bar of a solo part. I rather keep it interesting or combine a few ideas.

Pick a song you did a solo on and explain what you did.

For example, "Sermon of the Seven Suns" contains four lead sections while in the first half of the song I generate a theme during the second solo that gets picked up at the third lead section in a different rhythm and tempo. That keeps the solo somehow memorable but leaves room to shred at the same time. I am more interested in keeping it interesting, being able to play everything live and working with the song instead of making noises or throwing senseless arps in the bowl.

Do you and Christian lay down your guitar parts separately?

We share the songs to record, but you never hear two rhythm guitarists on the same song. We play pretty much different especially within rhythm guitars and it doesn't sound coherent if you have one guitarist left and the other one right in the panorama. On "Cosmogenesis," I recorded seven songs, Christian three and took over acoustic guitars and most of the leads. Within "Omnivium" we shared the songs the same. You can't hear who recorded which song I guess.

Jeroen Paul Thesseling plays fretless bass. How did that impact on the sound of the rhythm section?

Pretty much since the fretless bass has more freedom to improvise. The "nearby" intonation brings a completely different vibe to the music and adds a different musical view. Especially within the guitars there was a change since the frequencies of the upper bass notes turned into the field of the rhythm guitars.

Were you a fan of fretless bass in general? Jaco Pastorius? Jack Bruce?

Yes, but especially Steve DiGiorgio and Sean Malone had their impact with "Human" and "Focus."

Christian and drummer Hannes Grossman both wrote songs for "Cosmogenesis." Do you encourage the other members to write and bring in ideas?

Yes. Christian brought "Universe Momentum" to the table while Hannes wrote a few other good songs. In the end we arranged it all together, but you can hear on "Cosmogenesis" where the songs come from I guess. Obscura is not a solo project and never has been. Everyone is welcome to bring in ideas if it fits. I have a clear vision where the band is going, so accepting a "no" sometimes is not easy but part of a band - for everyone.

"Orbital Elements" is another beautiful instrumental. Is your approach as a guitarist different on an instrumental versus a song where you're singing?

No, writing an instrumental does not differ here. If the song itself is interesting enough, you don't need vocals or need to force a vocal line over it. On the other side sometimes there is no room in an arrangement to fit a singer quite naturally. That is a matter of feeling I would say.
"If you are honest to yourself, people realize that and respect this more than any plastic product for the mass that is shaped to sell"

Is there acoustic guitar on "Orbital Elements?" Do you like the acoustic guitar side of guitar playing?

Yes, there is very clearly an acoustic guitar audible within the song. Acoustic instruments bring another dynamic dimension into a production and arrangement. Those sounds are not reproducible with an electric guitar - only if you use a midi-based generic sound, but that is not the point and does not make any sense. I love acoustic guitars since you cannot hide - this is pretty much pure musicianship without a row of effects - and it just a stripped-down melody played by one musician in a room. It brings the human factor to the music so to say.

"Omnivium" was the second part of a four-part album concept. Can you explain this concept?

Roughly explained the four-album cycle is based on a life cycle divided into creation, evolution, developing consciousness and ends with the ultimate end - the apocalypse. "Cosmogenesis" was represented with a blue schematic color throughout the artwork; "Omnivium" was green; "Akroasis" was yellow and the last album is going to be red. All of the records contain links in-between music, lyrics and artwork and especially the lyrics stick the concept together. They are based on three entities - philosophy, religion and astrophysics - and deal with certain views within a meta and macro perspective at the same time - a universal thought so to say.

You worked for a second time with producer Victor Bullok. What did Victor bring to the music?

Victor Bullok is one of my closest friends even before I was playing music. He produced every album and demo Obscura ever did and was part of the production of "Retribution" as well. We know exactly how to work together, push each other to get better results and more importantly both of us work hard to develop our knowledge as engineers and producers. "Illegimitation" in 2003 was his first production. In the meantime he worked with Triptykon, Celtic Frost, Pestilence, Dark Fortress and an endless list of recording artists. Together we shaped the sound of the band into what you hear now on "Akroasis." I would consider him as the fifth band member, since he is part of Obscura from the very beginning. Victor understands the music and concepts and brought in ideas for arrangements, sounds and finding our own sound.

"Septuagint" opens the album with acoustic guitars. Nylon and steel? Did you ever think, "What will Obscura fans think if we use acoustic guitars?"

Only steel. I never thought about that to be honest. We write the music we love and if our fans love what we do even better. I don't write music to develop a product that hopefully sells more than the previous one. This is exactly what we want to play, hear and perform. If you are honest to yourself, people realize that and respect this more than any plastic product for the mass that is shaped to sell.

Florian Magnus Maier [Morean] plays the guitar solo on "Velocity." Were you there when Florian played the solo?

No, Florian wrote this lead in his studio in Rotterdam, the Netherlands while we had been recording at Woodshed Studio, Germany.

It is a beautiful solo. Do you have any input or ideas when outside guitar players come in to play solos on Obscura albums?

It is a well composed lead that brought a new dimension to "Velocity" that is true. And for me it stands as a highlight of the record. Usually, I don't give any advice to our lead guitarists or guest musicians since they should have freedom in what they record and later perform live. It feels more valuable for the music if the musicians have the chance to work out something of their own in a certain style and vibe. For "Velocity," neither Christian or me came up with ideas we had been satisfied with and since the middle section of the song is an homage to Mahavishnu Orchestra with a pretty open structure, I asked Florian to go beyond any border and come up with a lead that was not necessary to be reproduced live. The song itself is based on six guitars and was not meant to be performed live at all.

Morean has been an important part of the development of Obscura, right? He wrote songs on the first album and has been involved with the band for some time.

We all live or lived in the same city in Southern Germany, Landshut, and knew each other for more than 15 years. Within this small scene, we helped each band and worked here and there together. Noneuclid recorded both of their albums basically in our rehearsal room before Woodshed Studios was built as we know it these days. Morean wrote a few lyrics for our debut album but never composed a song for the band. He is a close friend since the beginning and it is a pleasure when we meet every few times to discuss lyrics, grand concepts or simply have a good time at a show.

When you work with different musicians - Morean, Tommy Talamanca, Ron Jarzombek, et al - do their approaches bring new ideas to you?

Not so far or at least nothing I could recognize.

In terms of perhaps recording guitars or structure or arrangement?

I didn't write music with any of those musicians so I wouldn't say so.

In 2012, you did a crowdfunding project for "Illegitimation," which brought together various demos, "Cosmogenesis" outtakes and cover songs. Why did you want to do that?

The first demo, "Illegimitation" was released in a very limited edition of perhaps 20 or 25 pieces and we realized that there was some interest in those old recordings when a few people sold those demos on Ebay for around $80 USD. The songs haven't been available in digital form anywhere and the bigger Obscura became, the more I got messages about how to get those old recordings. We could have released this compilation through Relapse Records, but to be honest, releasing compilations these days' smells like the band tries to make some money with old material.
"It feels like there are more and more promising new bands coming up these days"

Bands do that a lot.

I didn't want to see this old material in a store or distribution. In the end, we asked through this campaign if our fans wanted to have those recordings and offered a CD with a 20-page booklet, a gatefold vinyl with special colors and multiple shirts. To give something valuable besides the four tracks of our demo, we recorded three cover versions of bands that basically have been the reason why we play this kind of music - Death, Atheist and Cynic. To spice it up we added a few songs of the preproduction of "Cosmogenesis": "Incarnated," "Headworm" and "Open the Gates."

Did the crowdfunding project work for you?

We gained a lot of attention and this campaign was successful although it didn't cover the costs of pressing vinyl, recording at Woodshed Studios and shipping all the merchandise. The CD and vinyl looks and sounds great, so our fans who have been interested in the early material got a valuable release directly from the band and that is exactly what I had in mind.

As you were putting "Illegimitation" together, what memories came back about recording those early songs?

Good memories and getting in touch with the old members once again. We had been teenagers but tried to record the best we could and those songs represent clearly an inexperienced young band. But this is nothing to hide or neglect. Every release represents the band at a certain status, a snapshot of time so to say and I am proud over everything we achieved during the years. "Illegimitation" is where we started - the demo that leads us to "Akroasis" in 2016.

On December 15, 2012, you played a special show with early members of the band. How did that feel?

That evening felt special but also the rehearsals before had been a pleasure for everyone involved. We even recorded the whole evening on pro audio equipment. We invited close friends for this evening - Dark Fortress with V. Santura and Morean, Hokum with Jonas Fischer, a former Obscura bassist - and brought "Illegimitation" back onstage. A great evening with 400 people having a big party and good time in our city.

"Akroasis" features an entirely new lineup. How has that impacted the sound of this new album?

The rhythm section changed completely and brought a different view to work with grooves and drum arrangements. This is the biggest change from my perspective. Sebastian Lanser works with multilayered odd times and quin- or sept-tuplets to bring a new level of complexity into the band. Linus Klausenitzer combines our guitar work with the drumming more like a third guitarist instead of a rhythm-based bassist. His tone and taste for melodies feels very unique. Also Linus contributed great songs to "Akroasis" like "The Monist" or "Perpetual Infinity" - my personal favorite of the record. The direction is very clear where we are going with the band, but every musician involved had his share of sound and arranging the album. We kept the trademarks and our very own sound while adding new elements and a broader diversity to keep the music interesting and fresh.

Has it been difficult adjusting to new lineups? Working with new guitar players?

It basically costs time to work with new musicians. It takes months to include a new musician since everyone works a bit different and has another workflow or musical background. With Sebastian, Linus and Rafael we have good vibes in the group and I hope we stay as this group for a long time.

When you bring in a new guitar player, what qualities are you looking for?

There are hundreds of talented guitarists out there, but to cover a song you just need a certain amount of technique. For me, a musician becomes a musician with his own fingerprint, his own ideas and at best his own identity. Also speaking the same language is important. Keep in mind that recording an album takes a few months, but playing a touring cycle for the record takes up to three years. In that time you should understand each other well and also should get along well.

The intro to "Weltseele" is amazing. Beautiful acoustic guitars with fretless bass. Would you ever do a side project or solo album where the music has this more acoustic approach with cleaner guitars?

There is nothing less necessary than solo records. I don't need my name written on a CD cover. The same goes for projects - who needs a release that is recorded and no one cares about after a few weeks? With Obscura and Thulcandra, I have two bands for 14 and 13 years respectively to release albums with. These are serious groups collaborating with proper record labels and tours. The mentioned acoustic guitars and the fretless bass have been part of the songwriting to get a more dynamic range, a different audible adventure if you want to call it like that. Also a few acoustic-only pieces you'll find in Thulcandra and Obscura.

At 15:15, "Weltseele" may be the longest track you've ever recorded. Were you trying to push the boundaries of Obscura's music with a longer track? Various sections/movements?

We hadn't written a 15-minute song on purpose. This song has a long history and went through different states since its first version from 2013. "Weltseele" is based on a five-minute long song Linus wrote around 2013, which we arranged together. When Tom Geldschläger joined the band in late 2014, he brought many good ideas into the composition. He divided the piece into two main parts and added a long acoustic intro and middle section which turned out to fit "Weltseele" perfectly. I brought up the idea to add a string ensemble as previously done in the early days of the band. Since none of us wanted to work with plastic sounds or plugins, we hired Matthias Preisinger, a professional Berlin-based arranger to write the string ensemble based on the primary ideas of the main theme. "Weltseele" turned into a special song and shows ideas we are working with on the next record.

The string ensemble section in "Weltseele" is wonderful. If someone happened to put on this section of the song, they'd have no idea that Obscura was actually a brutal and progressive death metal band. Is that the idea?

I would recommend to listen to the whole song instead of moving to the string ensemble only.

If you look at your writing and playing on "Akroasis" and compare it to what you did on the first "Rebribution" album, how would you measure it?

"Retribution" was recorded 12 years ago when we all had been beginners on our instruments. There is no way to compare the records. We developed as a band, and I evolved as songwriter, instrumentalist and performer during that decade and became a professional engineer for audio and video design with a live experience of 500+ shows. It is a linear evolution where "Retribution" stands for the time of 2004 and "Akroasis" for 2016.

Were there challenging moments on "Akroasis"?

The leads on "Ten Sepiroth" took a while and mixing the album took some time, but after all I won't say it was challenging from a musical side.

Any feelings/thoughts on the current state of progressive death metal?

Actually it feels like there are more and more promising new bands coming up these days. It is a worldwide movement and since it was never easier to record your own album, hundreds of demos are popping up every year. Good times for progressive death metal but metal in general.

As someone whose obviously given a lot of thought to the condition of the human animal, any feelings or thoughts about the world in 2016?

It feels like everyone lives more and more in his own bubble and social media such as Facebook or YouTube suggests this is the only relevant reality to a grand part of society. Well, real life happens outside of forums, chats or the World Wide Web. I see a shift in our society overall and since we are more and more contingent upon media and electronic techniques, the next years will show us the way.

Any new projects/tours in the future?

We are on a European tour with Thulcandra right now and head to a EU tour supporting Death DTA with Obscura in March and April before we start our festival tour during Summer. We are working hard on Australian, Indian, South American and Asian dates right now. More coming soon. Right now I am working on a new band and not a project so keep an eye on the usual sources to get news.

https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/new...out_akroasis_and_his_vision_for_the_band.html

 

[Rosal76]

Were there challenging moments on "Akroasis"?

The leads on "Ten Sepiroth" took a while and mixing the album took some time, but after all I won't say it was challenging from a musical side.

Hmmm. Definitely gonna have to flip through the guitar tab book and examine the leads on that song.

 

[Chewy5150]

I just got my tab books in the mail today. Just from flipping through them briefly there is definitely some cool riffs/ideas/techniques I'll enjoy picking up through these songs.

 

[Thorerges]

https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/new...out_akroasis_and_his_vision_for_the_band.html

It's a great interview, read the entire thing twice to make sure I didn't miss everything. I have to applaud Steffen for his professionalism here - to be honest I hate seeing band members trash one another (Hannes did a recent high profile interview were he basically called out Steffen for a number of things including his A)Playing B)Songwriting ability and C) Professionalism for taking credit). I think all hardcore Obscura fans know that Hannes wrote most of the material on the first 2 records, and partially explains the enormous shift to this modern Obscura, were the rhythms are more straightforward and compact, relative to Omnivium.

Also great to see that Morean and Jarzombek are getting some kudos from this interviewer. Velocity is one of my favorite solos of all time, although the last 10 seconds are virtually impossible to play - it still shows just how virtuosic and creative Morean really is.

I like how Steffen noted The Monist and Perpetual Infinity as being his favorite tracks - those were the tracks I enjoyed the least on this record.

Anyways, I will stop complaining about the album - I think the reception has been unbelievable, even if it doesn't appeal to me personally. Sales are better than ever and the marketing has been superb. It is not as technical or progressive as previous records, but its very dynamic and to the point - which is what the wider metal audience is enjoying, I believe. Happy for Obscura.

 

[Rosal76]

For the bass players who may be interested, Obscura bassist, Linus Klausenitzer will be releasing a bass guitar tab book for Akroasis.

https://www.realmofobscura.com/product/pre-order-akroasis-bass-tablature-book/

 

[anomynous]

 

[CreptorStatus]

The setlist for anyone interested:

1. Ten Sepiroth
2. The Monist
3. Akroasis
4. The Anticosmic Overload
5. Sermon of the Seven Suns
6. Ode to the Sun
7. Centric Flow

Pretty heavy on the Akroasis stuff which is not surprising. Someone commented that their new lead guitarist wasn't playing all of Fountainhead's leads. The video is not the best quality so it would be pretty hard to confirm that though.

 

[Thorerges]

I wouldn't be surprised (although would still have to hear the clip). A) Fountainhead is a beast and B) They were written on a fretless guitar, so the intonation would be different and C) Since Trujilo is the new guitarist, it makes sense that he plays them in a way thats most comforting. Hard to imagine what it's like being 21 and so incredibly gifted. Haven't seen anything like it in death metal since Muenzner played for Necrophagist.

I do like the fact Obscura has been attentive to social media, however.

 

[Chewy5150]

Didn't notice this posted anywhere else... Ten Sepiroth video!

Obscura: 'Ten Sepiroth' Video Released - Blabbermouth.net

 

[takotakumi]

Also,Tom commented on FB that he will post a playthrough of the Akroasis and Sermon solo's sometime soon. He will offer the tabs as well for 1 Eur

UPDATE: relapse started bitching about him making profit of that...thus he is giving it away for free now.

https://db.tt/1cdLCnnt

 

[Necropitated]

I did a solo cover of Ten Sepiroth, next to Akroasis, the most interesting solo on the record that's playable without a fretless guitar haha.

 

[takotakumi]

I did a solo cover of Ten Sepiroth, next to Akroasis, the most interesting solo on the record that's playable without a fretless guitar haha.

Saw it when Tom shared it the other day

You rip dude! All your obscura solo covers are spot on

 

[Rosal76]

UPDATE: relapse started bitching about him making profit of that...thus he is giving it away for free now.

Sweet!!! Took a look at the tab and my interest in that solo has been renewed like 100 times over.

Also,Tom commented on FB that he will post a playthrough of the Akroasis and Sermon solo's sometime soon.

Saw it, loved it and will probably watch it 20 more times. Beyond Creation bassist, Hugo Doyon Karout commented on the video. Very cool.

 

[OmegaSlayer]

I did a solo cover of Ten Sepiroth, next to Akroasis, the most interesting solo on the record that's playable without a fretless guitar haha.

Cool! You're Kevin then.
Always great playthroughs man!

Also...Tom is DA BOSS!

 

[Fountainhead]

here´s a new link for my "Akroasis" solo playthrough video since Steffen had it taken down from FB, along with all my other Obscura videos
:
https://mega.nz/#!kdBHXSSb
use this key to download the file:
!TwtFzxDBCEKcd1oDq-agdHPziysO-kEBaMET0Mn-fmU
here´s the new link for the full transcription:
https://mega.nz/#!hcJAwDyB
and the key to go along with that:
!wmDgPsLDG0f_ay9btJocH3GtAUmaux8D01SIiCOpEhY

Enjoy.

 

[OmegaSlayer]

Holy crap!
How can you be able to make other people's vids to be taken down from Facebook?