The 3rd Chapter

Well, here we are folks...the dreaded 1996 album from an old school death metal behemoth, this time it's iconic German death-dealers Obscenity with their third album, fittingly entitled The 3rd Chapter. What's to be expected? Have they tried their hand at Killing Joke-style industrial rock a-la Morgoth? Is this a career-ruining abomination like Desultory? Or will this simply be a dated, boring and uninspired groove/death 'n' roll album like Grave? If you said any of those, congratulations - you're wrong! Nothing of the sort is to be found here. Here, Obscenity have extended their collective middle finger to the metal scene of '96 and simply carried on their merry way playing their brand of punchy & catchy, Florida-style death metal. Refreshing, isn't it?

All that said, don't come into this record with the impression that it's just another slab of typical, knuckle-dragging brutality - no, no...while Obscenity have clearly taken effort to retain their classic, fairly meat-and-potatoes sound (they even write about in in "Still Alive"), they've also matured and broadened their horizons with a more profound sense of melody and songwriting. After an ambient intro (brilliantly titled "Jonathan") we're greeted by the album's opening cut - "Disgrace Over You", a track whose opening riffs gouge at the listener like knives, with added pinch harmonics to perform unspeakable terrors on your bloody flesh. Unwary listeners will surely be dispatched within seconds, while other may simply be confused and disoriented...only to be pounded into dust by the killer verse riff, which lowers the pace just enough to savor the listener's sweet, sweet suffering...but then, what's that? Less than a minute in, we're greeted by a brief glimmer of hope - somber, melodic guitar leads soar over the track's chorus - with Oli Jauch's demonic death grunt backed by...female vocals?!? But then, just when you think you're safe - a descending guitar lick drags the listener back down into hell, only to pummel your remains with one of the most brutal, crushing riffs on the entire record...

I'll spare you a full-track autopsy - you can just fucking listen to it yourself, but you should get the point by now. This album displays a really unique and intelligent mixture of brutality and melody, showcasing the best of both worlds. The riffs are tight and sharp, incredibly catchy and possess a really visceral quality that bludgeons the brain (the breakdown in "Nuclear Holocaust"...fuckin' skullcrushing), but the melodic leads lend a sense of emotion and maturity to it all, this isn't just some dumb brutal death metal album - this is calculated savagery! The best example of that is the (almost) 8-minute epic "Disengaged", which features some really stunning melodic guitarwork that is both beautiful and haunting, and perfectly fits the subject matter of the lyrics - watching from the outside as someone's life is torn apart by addiction.

Lyrically, a lot of ground is covered - as is typical of this era of Obscenity. You've got your typical, gore-soaked death metal fare in "Disgrace Over You" but also criticisms of violence in the media ("Sensation Mongering") as well as some S&M foreplay masking deeper phiosophizing about morality in modern society ("Schattenspiele"). While the lyrics aren't always the most poetic in the world, they really convey a sense of truth and realty - Jauch was writing about things he truly cared about here and that's as respectable an approach as any, if you ask me.

In the end, The 3rd Chapter does a great job adding a sense of variety to Obscenity's straight forward approach to the genre, and proves that even in the darkest time for this genre, there was still a hope for it's future - the managed to stay true to their roots, not forsaking any of the aggression fans were used to up to this point, while also adding in new elements to keep things fresh and exciting. Definitely a recommended listen to anyone who doesn't mind (a bit) of melody in their death metal.