Oblivion - Called To Rise

[Mecca]

Metalheads! I had never heard of Oblivion until Ben Orum, their current bassist, announced he left All Shall Perish for these guys. So I gave their album Called To Rise a go, with no expectations. From left to right - Victor Dods (guitar), Luis Martinez (drums), Nick Vasallo (vocals), Ben Orum (bassist) and Ted O'Neill (guitar) Apart from using adjectives such as staggering, mind-blowing and asking questions like #whatdidIjustlistento and #howdoyoucomposemusiclikethis (meant to be interpreted as a complement), what were my thoughts? Each and every member of Oblivion is the absolute definition of technical mastery in relation to their respective instruments. Although metal as a genre generally requires more technical ability than just strumming a few chords, Oblivion takes this to a whole other level. Each member demonstrates absolute control of their art and it is more than impressive. Personally, as a novice guitarist that is satisfied with chugging generic metal riffs, I feel totally under qualified to review and offer an opinion on this music (note that Vasallo, the vocalist and main songwriter, is a Doctor in Music Arts and a world renowned composer). Nonetheless, I shall try….. SUMMARY Called to Rise this is a MONSTER metal album that will utterly numb your senses and make you get goose bumps all over, as several of the songs did for me. To the non-musician or metalhead who listens to more “generic” metal, the album may start to get monotonous for you around the halfway mark. It isn’t necessarily focused on melody or “memorable” riffs like some of the more well-known metal bands. However, if you are a metalhead that likes intricate riffage and technical playing in metal, or you are a musician (not necessarily into metal) that has a general appreciation of composition and music structure, this album is for you. This is not a metal album that you can just have on in the background while doing chores etc – you must sit down and actually LISTEN to it to appreciate all the subtleties throughout the music. In a way, it is almost hard work because there is so much going on in the music and you need to concentrate to no miss anything. I URGE you to give Called To Rise a listen because it will make you view metal in a totally different light. 4 out of 5 horns from me \m/\m/\m/\m/\m/. One amazing metal album that deserves to stand the test of time. See below for a track by track review. (P.S. special mention to the final two tracks with the string orchestra…..wow….just wow). Track by track review 1. Oblivion Part 1: The Chant of Tyrants One of my favourite things about metal albums is the acoustic/soft intro song. Oblivion does not disappoint in this respect. This album begins with a soul piercing opera chant with distorted guitars in the background. There is a motivational speech (the way I interpreted it) going on in the midst of this…with a personal favourite line – “The death of weakness”. 2. Black Veils of Justice This song begins with what I like to call an “out of tune” tremolo scale. It sounds totally out of tune and out of control but it is somehow composed in an organised manner which makes the chaos gel. You just have absolutely no idea where the song is going which is nice because it keeps you on the edge of your seat…no verse/chorus formula to be found here. The dissonance at 2.20 was a nice touch without being overdone and the “breakdown” complemented with the cymbal chokes made me what to smash a brick wall. Metal at its finest. 3. Between Suns of Light Vasallo’s vocals hit me like a tonne of bricks at the start… absolutely and utterly brutal. Again, it is organised chaos. It sounds like the instruments are out of time, but it also sounds so “right” in a way. Big fan of the “stop start” guitar rhythm around the 1.20 mark and the high pitched shriek at 2.00 mark was a shock. I was not aware Vasallo was capable of such range. This is followed by a super shred metal solo top the song off. 4. Binary Souls The clean guitar at the beginning is no indication of the carnage that is about to be unleashed upon the listener…. I know Oblivion are not a touring band and I do not question their ability, but god damn how will they pull songs like these off live? They would have to rehearse so much that the guitarists would develop arthritis in their hands and fingers and the drummer would be put in a wheelchair due to overuse of muscles and limbs! I like the slight change in tempo at around the 1 min mark just to break it up and not always be 100% balls to the wall. I also liked the slow “sludge” feel around 1.30 with some heavy palm mute chugging. Cool little trills around 2.20 too….metal. 5. Reclamation Intricate bass riff at the start followed by a soul crushing Vasallo growl. It’s hard to explain, but there is a certain higher pitched note that the guitars keep hitting to maintain a very catchy riff. You must listen to it to understand what I mean (see clip below). This particular theme to the song is revisited many times throughout the song and makes the riff very memorable (despite what I said at the beginning of this review). There is a breakdown at the 3 minute mark for you to groove and headbang to – it would be a great live song if they toured. 6. Canon 1 in E Minor As the name suggests, there is a strong classical vibe to this tune (not surprising considering Vasallo’s background). Broadly, a Canon requires a melody to be imitated throughout the song, which you definitely hear. As the “minor” in the title suggests, there is a slight “sad” feel to the tune but also a real sense of dread and foreboding…. 7. Annunaki The octave melody at the start is followed by pure craziness and aggression in the riffing. I want to give a particular mention to the drumming in this song – it really stuck with me how well they complemented the rest of the song, especially the motif of the 3 snare beats that keeps reappearing throughout then song which go, boom boom boom, boom boom boom. 8. Reigns in Fire Over the halfway mark and no let up from these guys. Intense double kick during this song complemented by the “out of tune” feel as mentioned in Black Veils of Justice. Big fan of how the solo just appears out of nowhere with shred, sweeps, taps and the whole kitchen sink of guitar soloing techniques. This trades off to a more melodic solo which balances out this song very nicely. 9. Cancer of Wraiths I sense a much more groovy feel to this song which is much more conducive to headbanging. Vasallo’s vocals destroy in this song, especially when he goes “CANCER OF WRAITHS!!!!”. Sounds totally venomous. 10. Multiverse The peaceful clean guitar intro is shrouded in mystery, in particular when the piano kicks in. The peaceful vibe descends into a quite an eerie feel which will make you keep looking behind you to see if someone is creeping up on you. The clean intro in this song gave me goose bumps and made my hairs stand before the heaviness kicked in. I also like the “random” (no doubt calculated by the band, but sounding random to the ignorant bystander like me) sweeps injected into the song in unexpected places. 11. Oblivion Part 2: Infinite Descent We arrive back at where the album started – ritualistic chanting and tribal-esque drumming. The chanting goes through phases that give different vibes, which fades to being barely audible and the drums and bass become more prominent and then reverting back to the chants. I got a big fright near the end of this song too…did you? Personally thought this song was too long though. 12. Black Veils of Justice (Instrumental version) This is a good chance for people trying to learn the song to attempt and break the song down…. good luck. I appreciated aspects of the song which I was not able to notice in the non-instrumental version, in particular the drumming. Luis sounds like a machine and the sheer amount of rhythmic changes and patterns he chops and changes between is breath-taking. 13. Shred: I. Multiverse (String Orchestra) Okay Multiverse is good but this is even better (how is this possible???). The strings made my face go numb… no jokes. The strings made me visualise that I was falling into a bottomless pool of water and the “chaotic” parts (you will know what I mean when you listen to the song) are me trying to struggle out of the water. If they did this song live it would be so metal…. But would I sit or headbang? DILEMMA. 14. Shred: II. Long Deaf Hate (String Orchestra) This would be a perfect soundtrack for a movie like Inception. I got the feeling this song ws about a race against time (e.g. getting to the next dream layer within the allotted time in Inception). The “chugging” riffs on the strings sound so so evil. Think I might have nightmares tonight! The addition of the vocals going “shhhhhhhh” was a very nice touch, as was the tribute to a famous thrash metal song…….did you get it?

I'm all tired from listening to this metal as hell album..... until next time metalheads! Horns up \m/ecca