“Obsidian” is a debut full-length album by Datûra, an outstanding Polish quintet based in Warsaw. Consisting of eight exceptional compositions, this material represents their second effort, arriving as an adequate follow-up to a self-titled EP. The group promotes this release with “Venom” and “The Valley,” two excellent singles that vividly showcase Datûra’s rich and luxurious sound. “Obsidian” also showcases a natural progression and innovation in songwriting, composing, arranging, recording, and producing, as these songs arrive with many tremendous vocal, sonic, and rhythmic delicacies. Soundwise, Datûra embraces and combines many different but complementary music genres to depict such marvelous sonic imagery. Perhaps post-metal comes to mind first, but you’ll notice how some of the finest properties borrowed from post-rock, atmospheric metal, ambient metal, progressive metal, sludge, stoner, doom, and many others found their way into this sonic equation. They use all these additional styles as more than necessary enhancements, accentuations, decorations, and other details to uplift this comprehensive collection of songs to new heights while simultaneously retaining loyalty to the primary sonic direction. Therefore, these experimentations with many different but complementary music genres resulted in an exceptional sonic display worth repeating over and over again.
It’s difficult to pick standout tracks, as each delivers fresh, unique, innovative, otherwordly ideas. “Venom,” “We Lived Afloat,” “Ether,” “Obsidian,” and “The Ocean” are unquestionably the highlights of this material, but you should pay equal attention to the remainder, as Datûra demonstrate all their abilities, experience, knowledge, talent, and skills through this album. As soon as you press play, you’ll hear how much attention to detail these experienced musicians invested in these tracks. Each composition arrives with a perfect structure, garnered with many intricate segments, brilliant ideas, and outstanding musicianship. The exceptional lead vocalist steals the show here. Her magnificent voice commands attention and guides the listening apparatus from scratch to finish while emphasizing all those segments and orchestrations. The impressive vocal range seamlessly balances between low, mid, and high notes, providing an otherwordly listening experience that undoubtedly sets the bar high for many vocalists in the same genre. The combination of cleans and growls spices things up to the max. In the meantime, the interplay between rhythm and lead guitars offers a perfect backdrop for all the vocals to shine upon. You’ll hear how heavy, powerful, colossal riffs and chord progressions resonate on one side while the other shines with catchy, memorable, engaging, ethereal leads, themes, melodies, harmonies, and other sonic maneuvers. Also, it’s good to mention that the vocals and guitars match together harmoniously, offering a one-of-a-kind listening experience.
Of course, “Obsidian” wouldn’t sound this good without a rock-solid rhythm section. You’ll hear how equally intricate, vividly hearable low-ends roar beneath all the guitar works, offering more than necessary heaviness, clarity, and depth while binding all the instrumentations with drums. In the meantime, the exceptional drummer keeps everything in line while dictating groove and tempo with expertly assembled, flawlessly performed, moderate, well-accentuated beats, breaks, fills, and other percussive acrobatics. The rhythm section acts as a backbone of this material, as it provides the fundamental foundations for guitars to shine upon. Datûra thought about everything while writing, composing, arranging, recording, and producing this album, and their efforts resulted in a magnificent post-metal album that will undoubtedly resonate with even the pickiest fans of the genre. From profoundly heavy to more ambient tracks, this material shines with so many mindblowing moments that you’ll gladly repeat this epic sonic journey. “Obsidian” is available via their Bandcamp page. Don’t miss it!
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