Grotesque Experience
Obscene
Type:
Demo
Release date:
November 1990
Catalog ID:
N/A
Label:
Independent
Format:
Cassette

Songs:
1. Shades of Nothing 07:16
2. Eternal Doom 06:27
3. Putrid Remains 05:32
19:15

Line Up:

Tobbe Bass
Sami Drums
Jani Guitars, Vocals
Stefan Guitars (lead), Vocals

Recording information:
Recorded and mixed at Balsta Studion on November 15-18, 1990.
Produced by Obscene.

Obscene
Country of origin:
Sweden
Location:
Eskilstuna, Södermanland
Status:
Split-up
Formed in:
1990
Genre:
Death/Doom Metal
Themes:
Death
Last label:
Unsigned/independent
Years active:
1990-?
Not to be confused with:
- Obscene (Brutal Death Metal from Jönköping, Jönköping)
- The Obscene (Heavy Metal from Nässjö, Jönköping)

Complete Discography:
Name Type Year Reviews
Grotesque Experience Demo 1990

Last Known Lineup:

Tobbe Bass
Sami Drums
Stefan Källarsson Guitars, Vocals
See also: Crypt of Kerberos, ex-House of Usher, ex-Asmodeus
Jani Ruhala Guitars, Vocals
See also: ex-House of Usher

Grotesque Experience
Obscene
View all reviews for Obscene - Grotesque Experience
Doomed before death - 86%
iamntbatman, June 26th, 2013
Obscene were a little-known death metal outfit from a town outside of Stockholm featuring dudes who'd go on to play in the only-slightly-less-obscure House of Usher. This three-song demo serves as the only entry in their catalog, but it's an intriguing listen. Wholly different from the dominant swedeath scene at the time, Obscene specialized in a crawling, gloomy sort of death/doom, altogether darker and more unsettling than much of the other early entries in this then-new style of music. While not so good as to qualify for some sort of internet craze a la Timeghoul or something, this is still really neat and worth tracking down for anyone with an interest in early death/doom.

It's clear the band wanted their style to be quite obvious, choosing their most funereal song as their opener. Echoes of Candlemass flow through the riffs and forlorn melodies, though there's clear influence from Autopsy's Severed Survival as well. It's a haunting track, but the band really comes into their own on centerpiece “Eternal Doom”. Though the song starts out with tremolo lines that wouldn't sound wholly out of place in something by one of their more well-known peers, the song shifts into mournful death/doom territory by the second half, bent notes echoing the despair on albums like Epicus Doomicus Metallicus. This is not just a band slowing death metal down to increase the weight of the individual riffs, a case that could be made for certain other early death/doom bands, but rather a band consciously incorporating blatant doom riffs and melodies into their death metal framework.

There's also a sort of blackened edge to the band's melodies, sounding something like an embryonic Necrophobic. It's actually really great to hear a band that sounds like this, since it's often the case that modern bands that play in some sort of hybrid style (like Necros Christos, a band that actually sounds quite similar to Obscene, especially when compared to songs like “Putrid Remains”) have the advantage of being able to look back and be influenced by a handful of bands from different eras and locations to create a sound that many would deem not actually accurate in terms of recreating what was possible at the time. Yet Obscene are that rare old-school band that came along rather early but sounds exactly like a combination of disparate styles that were all emerging around this time. The dark, cemetery sort of feel conveyed in this music is just plain captivating and stands in stark contrast to more thuggish forms of early death/doom like Sempiternal Deathreign, Dream Death or Asphyx.

The production is typical for a demo released around this time, with loads of tape hiss. The guitar was either recorded with distortion pedals on a cheap solid state amp, or the recording has rendered it more lo-fi than it really was. The buzzing of the guitar is cleanly separated from the bass, which is nice and audible throughout. Lead guitar cuts through clearly, too. The drums are quite crisp, though the cymbals get sort of lost in the general buzzing of the recording. Vocals are well recorded, though a touch of reverb wouldn't have been unwelcome.

Though some members went on to play in House of Usher and Crypt of Kerberos, it's a real shame this lineup didn't stick it out and record more material. Their style really is something special and given time to let their ideas ferment, and given a proper recording, it's likely they could've produced something that would now be regarded as a classic of old school death metal, if not one of the great albums of occult death/doom. Give this a listen.