Metal has a way of becoming a full-blown addiction. It all starts so casually: a suggestion from a streaming service, recommendation from a friend, a quick hit in a soundtrack. The next thing you know, you’re obsessively scrolling obscure tags on Bandcamp, scanning social media for the latest releases, and speaking in tongues….or at least the language of your favorite subgenres. Eventually, you become so immersed in this ear-shattering bubble that a single glance is enough to develop an obsession.
So it was with the new album from Obstruktion. Suicide Records? Hardcore mashed with death metal? SWEDEN? No further questions, I need this.
The sophomore album from Gothenburg’s brutal battalion more than lived up to my sky-high expectations. Stretching the murderous buzzsaw of Swedeath guitars into hardcore-meets-death metal mutations, The End Takes Form is a testament to unrelenting aggression. Releasing tomorrow (May 30th), you can stream the full album below.
The End Takes Form is a monstrous journey, best undertaken in one furious sprint. Though Obstruktion fuse hardcore and death metal into the entire effort, the album is structured like a descent that gradually pulls you into the madness as focus shifts across influences. Obstruktion opens with menacing intent, instantly launching into the jagged gallop of hardcore rendered downright evil with the signature meatiness of death metal. The raw, screaming intensity of hardcore is amplified with devastating nods to death metal, pummeling riffs adding just the right heft to dizzyingly angry tracks.
Venture further into this horrifying wasteland and death looms ever closer. By the third track, “The Final Hour,” deathly chugs lurch into action, delivering head-banging grooves that ooze with atmospheric darkness. Whiplash-inducing shifts from calculated pummeling rhythms to staccato sprints create an addictive mix of pure ferocity. Obstruktion bring out the best of both hardcore and death metal with their competing influences.
The full grandeur of The End Takes Form, however, isn’t revealed until the final song, a 10-minute mammoth that introduces a rare moment of delicacy and bursts into crushing riffs that hint at death-doom. The haunting atmospheres lurking at the edges of Obstruktion’s sound emerge into their full form, swirling around punishing guitars and raw howls. All of the intensity and fury cultivated throughout The End Takes Form erupts with premeditated rage. “Born of Contempt” is wholly unexpected, yet finds Obstruktion in their height of sonic destruction.
The End Takes Form drops tomorrow on Suicide Records. Pre-order the album and stream it below.
/html