Obscene Worship

OBSCENE WORSHIP (U.S.)

I happened to see an e-mail from this murderous Denver death metal band soon after it arrived earlier this week, at a break right in the middle of my listening session for things I might want to include in this column. I impulsively decided to see what they had done on their just-released debut album, Ordained to Infernal Depths, and was immediately hooked.

“Murder Amnesia” was a great choice for an album opener. That’s the one that set the hook. It has a creepy intro, and then begins a seizure. The drumming is exhilarating, and so is the nimble bass-work. The lead guitar blurts like a frantic pulse, squeals in ecstasy, and whirls about like dervishes. The riffing creates a convulsive sandstorm of sound and slashes like knives.

The adrenaline-propelled music is both crazed and technically impressive, and somehow the roaring, howling, and screaming vocals are just as crazed. The channel separation between the cavorting guitars adds to the eye-popping nature of the spectacle.

I thought that song would be right in line with the unorthodox spectacles displayed in the first two songs in today’s collection, and it certainly left me greedy to see what else these deviant Denver savants might do next.

Now hurrying, I’ll just say that the following eight tracks are usually every bit as wild and bamboozling as “Murder Amnesia“, and further signs of a band whose songwriting is as electrifying as it is intricate and exuberantly unhinged, and whose technical talents are truly dazzling.

There are a few breaks in all the mad-scientist mayhem, when the band give you a groove, and even create music that’s hulking and menacing (yet still discordant and deranged), or throw in a creepy interlude, similar to what they did at the outset. Those breaks will help you get through the asylum gauntlet of the album as a whole, though it’s the truly brain-contorting, high-speed adventures that make the album stand way out. Like the title of the last song, it’s a deranged epiphany.

Ordained to Infernal Depths was recorded, mixed and mastered at World Famous Studios with Pete Deboer, who has produced albums for Blood Incantation, Spectral Voice, Astral Tomb, and many others.

The e-mail I got also reported that Obscene Worship will begin touring behind the album this week and have about 8 dates lined up where they’ll be playing in Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and California. I found details at their FB page. If these people can even come close to doing live what they did in the studio, those shows should be well worth seeing. - No Clean Singing