Out of Germany comes something wicked – wicked in the sense of something enjoyable and brilliant and wicked in the sense that this dark and foreboding little gem is as black as the darkest midnight. Nailed To Obscurity have been toiling away in the wilds of Germany (I literally mean the wilds) for thirteen years now delivering some good albums along the way but with their latest album Black Frost they have delivered a truly remarkable album.
While only seven tracks long the tracks on Black Frost are seven of the best you will hear this year as Nailed To Obscurity find the perfect blend of melodic death metal and take the genre to soaring new heights. Opening track ‘Black Frost’ sees Jann Hillrichs build the tension while Raimond Ennenga’s early low growls build the anticipation until his vocals turn into full force death growls. All through that the track builds and builds until it produces some amazing melodic moments enhanced by the twin guitars of Jan-Ole Lamberti and Volker Dieken.
The beauty of the guitars also shines through on ‘Tears Of The Eyeless’ which also contains clean vocals that show that there really are two sides to this band. Keen listeners will also note that along with the melodic side of Nailed To Obscurity there is also a prog metal side shining through as well. That sound comes to the fore on ‘The Aberrant Host’ and also comes to the surface during the at times very heavy ‘Cipher.’ It is on ‘Cipher’ that the two ‘sides’ to Nailed To Obscurity are really evident. The driving music mixed with pure death vocals is suddenly amazingly broken up with an amazing melodic prog metal vibe that truly showcases the talent of this much under-rated band.
Ennenga’s vocals are again showcased on ‘Feardom’ where they shine against the low and mellow instrumentals while the atmospheric ‘Resonance’ again sees the prog metal feel re-surface. The final track – ‘Road To Perdition’ – again sees the epic sound created when Nailed To Obscurity’s two guitarists hit full flight.
Black Frost is a stunningly beautiful album that is one of the finest melodic death metal albums I have ever heard. Amazing guitar playing and a band that is not frightened to experiment with their sound has resulted in a stunningly brilliant album that shows that Nailed To Obscurity are one of the most under-rated bands going around
