Spanish experimentalists in the spotlight
OBSIDIAN KINGDOM have been cunningly avoiding easy categorisation since their inception in the Catalan capital of Barcelona, Spain, where the band was formed in 2005.
Their sophomore album ‘A Year With No Summer’ is now adding to the eclectic puzzle and a big step in an continuing evolution. To say that the Catalans move further away from their roots in extreme metal and towards a more progressive sound is equally correct as misleading. There are still burning guitars and harsh riffing to be found, yet there is also simply much more of everything else. Contrasts, shifts, and raw emotions created and guided by intricate rhythm patterns, electronic tapestries as well as highlights are combined into a carefully composed musical painting of monumental dimensions. There are hints of the epic approach offered by such influences as PINK FLOYD and MARILLION, yet OBSIDIAN KINGDOM use a far darker range of colours on their pallet. There is a constant sense of drowning, darkness and depression threading through ‘A Year With No Summer’, which binds the wide stylistic range offered by its diverse song material together.
When the Catalan newcomers self-released their debut full-length ‘Mantiis – An Agony in Fourteen Bites’ in 2012, the 500 copies they had pressed sold out in a blink of an eye. Their conceptual album on a violent crime and its dramatic repercussions features a single song divided into fourteen tracks, which flow through different genres. ‘Mantiis’ progressive character and post-modern approach set against extreme metal prefigures the even larger step now taken by ‘A Year With No Summer’
OBSIDIAN KINGDOM once again follow new paths in an untiring search for their own unique expression unhindered by conventions or style boundaries. This is a record to get your headphones on and listen with diligence to be rewarded with the pleasure of finding great music off those tracks already taken too many times before.
Current line-up
Rider G Omega: guitars and vocals
Ojete Mordaza II: drums
Seerborn Ape Tot: keys
Eaten Roll I: guitars
Om Rex Orale: bass
Guest vocals
Attila Csihar (MAYHEM) on “The Kandinsky Group”
Kristoffer “Garm” Rygg (ULVER) on “10th April”
Style: Experimental Rock
