Review: Oblation — Oblation
From the Vault Review: Oblation – Oblation
Oblation is a band that slipped through the cracks, and never should have. Formed in Texas in 1990, they were one of the very first death metal bands to exist within the Christian metal scene, and frankly, if the few tracks left to us are any indicator, they could have been the best. Of course, it was not to be, and the band seemed to have disbanded sometime in the mid-90’s after releasing a tiny handful of material, with drummer Billy Fraser later forming death metal act Discern, as well as thrash metal band Summoned. Here, we’re going to take a quick look at a lost classic of Christian death metal, Oblation’s self-titled 1994 demo.
What we’ve got here is high-quality early death metal, very much rooted in the 80’s and early 90’s sounds of the genre. For a demo, the production quality is frankly amazing, and sounds nothing like what one would expect from a demo at all. We’ve only got three tracks, but hey, quality over quantity, right?
If you find yourself really missing the early death metal sounds of Mortification from their first two records, Mortification and Scrolls of the Megilloth (especially the latter), this might ease that pain a bit. Mitch Reese’s roar is definitely in the vein of Steve Rowe’s, relying on ferocity rather than inhuman gutturals to get the band’s message across. Billy Fraser’s drum work comes off like a mix of Donald Tardy (of Obituary) and Jayson Sherlock’s, vacillating between primitive caveman-like pounding and avalanches of blastbeats.
On that note – if you are one of those dudes who is a huge Obituary fan, especially of their iconic Cause of Death album, I think you will find yourself loving this record. The primitive drum work and atmospheric, James Murphy-like swooping guitar solos all echo that album’s brooding darkness in particular, though obviously Mitch Reese sounds nothing like John Tardy’s psychotic, inimitable yowl. Don’t mistake this for an Obituary clone, though. Oblation’s sound is inspired, but not derivative.
Lyrically, we get what you’re probably going to expect from a band of this time period – dire warnings of involvement with the occult and submitting to the devil in one’s life in “Demonic Permeation,” an admonishment against drunkenness and substance use in “Obliteration Conceived,” and a kind of lament concerning the fallen world, false idols, and lack of spiritual awareness in “Reeking Impurities.” Nothing super deep or theologically-rich, just some pretty par-for-the-course stuff.
Overall, I’d say good luck finding this one until someone like Vision of God Records, Thrashback Records or Nordic Mission comes along and hopefully decide to re-release it. That said, it’s a awesome record and highly worth listening to; thank God, the metal fans over at Baú Do Rock uploaded the whole thing to YouTube for us – CHECK IT OUT HERE.
For Fans Of: Mortification (early), Obituary, Death (early), Skeletal Remains, Pestilence (early)
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