Nefarious Sanctuary

Review originally published at www.teethofthedivine.com by E.Thomas

From Germany’s creatively named new-ish label, Go Fuck Yourself Productions, comes the debut from Stockholm’s Obscyria a band trying not to completely wear their geographical locale’s sound on their sleeve, being old school death metal, but with a bit of a blackened thrash sneer.

This the kind of release that Unspeakable Axe or FDA Rekotz should have released, as Obscyria fit comfortably next to the likes of Chapel of Disease or Deus Otiosus. Leather clad thrash with death and black metal and some minimal sunlight buzz and vocals, Nefarious Sanctuary careens through 50 minutes of raw, analog nastiness that does a good job of not simply rehashing Dismember and Entombed tropes.

And while all the teeth baring, thrashing furor is enjoyable, not of it really takes and hold, and the band's knack for longer, overdrawn songs (6-8 minutes) enhances that. But amid the plethora of scrawly solos there is plenty of no nonsense thrashing ferocity with just enough death metal bite to give it a broader appeal. The more direct assaults like ‘Sect”, “Deranged Minds” and “Experiments” are all out war, and thusly more enjoyable as the the likes of seem to either take a while to get going, have a long mid section or simply wander around a bit too much with out of place atmospherics or acoustics (“Slaves to the Cross”) , at least for this style (only “Phantom Slaughter” manages to render both well).”Hangman’s Poem”, and closer “Vengeful Collision” both have moments of all out fury, but seem to get bogged down in solos, forced or lengthy tangents, acoustic bridges or simply dead horse a riff.

In truth, this could have been a blistering 30 minute album but the band gets a little too mired in filler and slightly forced nuance that take away from what could have been a real black/death thrash scorcher.