Review: Celestial Scourge ‘Observers Of The Inevitable’
I have a tricky relationship with tech death, on one hand, I love all the bands that preceded the genre, such as Gorguts, Suffocation, Oppressor, Nocturnus ecetera ecetera, however, the modern incarnation of that sound can often be a struggle for me as they can often sound over polished and lacking that character/abrasiveness/atmosphere which makes my hair (singular) stand up. I think it also sometimes falls into a bit of wankery, a practice in who can be the most technical as possible whilst forgetting that aforementioned character and atmosphere that means so much to me, I’d call out some examples of this but I’m no catty bitch!
So, when The Shaman offered up a new pile of delectable delights, I was surprised to see myself erring towards what I’ve just bloody whinged about! So, will this fall on the side of good tech death in a genre bloated with plastic coated characterless piff or will this be some killer technical death metal that woos with its instrumentation but keeps that unholy songcraft that we (me) desire so much? With all that in mind, I bring thee Observers Of The Inevitable, the debut release from Norwegian horde Celestial Scourge, released February 28th via Time To Kill Records.
My usual first issue when it comes to modern tech death is the production, it can often sound stale and polished within an inch of its life, so polished you can see the remnants of Mr Muscle’s poor corpse engrained into its faux granite worktop. Well, that’s not the case here! A warm yet clean production manages to highlight the technical ability of this five-piece whilst maintaining their love of all things decimating, helping to push the space-oddity atmosphere to its rightful place, front and centre of the record. Great job to Stefano Morabito at 16th Cellar Studio and Meathook Studio who handled the pots and pans.
Featuring members of Blood Red Throne, Glimt and You Suffer, this five-piece is no slouch when it comes to producing quality music. There are hints of Defeated Sanity, Malignancy and Wormed on here, especially in the complex yet chaotic song-craft being conjured up by these tendinous Norwegian planet smashers. Conceptually, the record deals with our mere mortal noggins being able to comprehend the gargantuan universe of information that lies out in distant galaxies, which can only lead to said feeble minds lending to self-immolation in response.
The back-and-forth low end and high vocals from Eric Waadland do a good job of expanding the already chaotic sound being pushed out by the rest of the band…
The back-and-forth low end and high vocals from Eric Waadland do a good job of expanding the already chaotic sound being pushed out by the rest of the band. If I’m perfectly honest, I could probably do without the highs’ but that’s just a personal thing, plenty of people will dig them, I just think the deeper growls and snarls better match the atmospherics and galactic themes of the album. A great example of this is on the utterly vicious Wandering Waste Of Oxygen which features more of the low end than the high and is my favourite track on the record.
Speaking of other highlights, Exterminated is absolutely murderous, the alien-esque guitar work is all over the place with great pacing and even better drum work. You’ll find it a tough job not to dig this track.
Overall, this is a solid album of tech death that I really dig. There are a few things I’d change here and there, but those are just personal touches and nothing major. If you’re into modern, technical death metal that’s on the wild space age side and doesn’t sound like it’s come straight out of Chat GPT, then I’d suggest you check out Observers Of The Inevitable, you shan’t be disappointed. Great job guys!
Label: Time To Kill Records
Band Links: Facebook | Bandcamp | Spotify | Instagram
Scribed by: Matt Alexander
