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Requiem for Oblivion > Hindsight 2020 > Reviews
Requiem for Oblivion - Hindsight 2020

Locked down in death - 72%

gasmask_colostomy, March 13th, 2021

Requiem For Oblivion are a five-piece death metal act mainly taking cues from Steve Jacobson, who shares duties in Lordran with 2 other members of this Pennsylvanian band. Although their Bandcamp page tells of musical inspiration from Rush and Opeth, the types of progressive and death metal influences at work seem more extreme and alienating, dipping into tech, brutal, industrial, and djent to make an almighty racket. Fans of the recent Ulcerate album could be interested, as may Beyond Creation and Suffocation followers. Inevitably, someone had to call their record Hindsight 2020, and these guys have focused in on several hot topics of the last year or so, quite niftily summed up by the shitpoking 'Conspiracy Bro'. If the pandemic year seemed fragmented, chaotic, and impersonal for you, it won’t be too hard to understand the approach taken by Requiem For Oblivion.

Really locked into a space where technical meets brutal, the material on the EP feels extremely dense and hostile at first listen, though admittedly aims for more than a fancy bludgeoning. The sense of groove emanating from 'Collapse the Structure' actually remains even after significant tempo changes, the thick guitar tone producing a swampy dragging feel that juxtaposes some passages of more physical, hard-edged beatdowns. Similar tricks are played with the vocals, turning frequently from dry low roar to squishy animalistic growls and even using passages of distorted cleaner singing to add unease to slower djenty grooves. Along with suitable variation in drumming style, all this gives Hindsight 2020 a much broader spectrum of sounds than the initial onslaughts suggest.

As to be expected from a group who name songs 'Collapse the Structure' and 'Shatterpoint', momentary changes in direction result in tangled song structures for Requiem For Oblivion. Even during the longest 6 minute cuts, they seem quite happy to bounce into a riff, mess about with it for a moment, execute a swift U-turn around a tricky fill, then drop down to a much quieter section of vaguely sinister ambience with dark spoken word vocals. Of course, these parts are often arranged differently each time, so choose any combination of those elements and sprinkle them over all the drum patterns to find the ideal song for you – all 5 go slightly different ways. In the oppressive and disquieting environment created by the instrumental power and detailed structuring, Hindsight 2020 comes off as a very isolating, urban death metal experience. A good deal of synthesizing and processing has clearly gone on in the Requiem For Oblivion camp during the pandemic.


Originally written for The Metal Observer - http://www.metal-observer.com/3.o/review/requiem-for-oblivion-hindsight-2020/