Stabbing “Eon of Obscenity”
“Rotting Eternal” brings that classic slam/brutal death metal blast beat from Aron Hetsko into a chugging and punishing chug of a riff by guitarist Marvin Ruiz, with the deep thumping bass of Matt Day accenting the riff. Adding that stank face inducing feeling when the riff just gets heavier. Which get more power and visceral disgust by Bridget Lynch’s guttural gurgles and brees through the brief minute and a half runtime.
“Inhuman Torture Chamber” continues the onslaught, but in a distorted, slammy following the bouncing ball vibe. Lynch’s vocals have so much grit and snarl in some of her vocal cadences. Especially the almost rolling R snarl on the blast beat section. Hetsko flies all over the kit throughout the slow down/speed up of the riff, which switches off between blasts, slam and brutal death metal tropes of the death metal genre. The speed and intensity continues on “Masticate The Subdued”. Which the whole tone and delivery of the song reminds me of Dying Fetus, mixed with the slam-like notes of Suffocation. With it’s deep bass and drum groove presentation. Day and Ruiz instantly create that slow headband, stankface groove on their verse section musically. With the band delivering a long of sheer violence and breakdown power all under three minutes.
The title track just keeps the album going at the same pace. I love the production of the drums, reminding me of the 90’s death metal sound. Ruiz up the guitar with some hammer-on pieces amongst the chugs of the main riff and blasting snares. Bringing the nostalgia and vibes of the 90’s death metal at its peak. Its heavy, dynamic in production,. and overall heavy and fast. A great example of this is on “Reborn To Kill Once More”. The whole mix and production, especially with Lynch’s vocals, echoes the layered, demonic vocals of Deicide’s self-titled, the mixing of the guitars akin to Atheist, and bringing back nostalgia and the best parts of not only death metal, but Slam Death Metal in nature. A big step-up in sound compared to the band’s 2022 debut Extirpated Mortal Process.
Following the instrumental “Ruminations”, Ricky Myers of Suffocation provides guest vocals on “Nauseating Composition”. High tempo, perplexing guitar riff, Ruiz really adds hefts to the opening gutturals with his guitar playing. Very bombastic, heavy and my favorite track off the album. it is just a solid three-minute banger of gurgles, chugs and double bass. Tracks like “Their Melted Remains” & “Sonoluminescent Hemoglobinopathy” just keep going for the throat in the chunkiest and thickness of the guitar tone and the repeated stabbing of blast beats and snare shots.
“Symphony of Absurdity” is just a blitzkrieg of drumming and growls by Lynch. Day’s bass playing gurgles in-between vocal breaks and the song just instantly gets you banging along with it. I love the flow of the song. It has the right amount of speed up/slow down. Like riding a death metal wave, right before you crash into a rock in the first breakdown near the halfway mark. And the complexity of the playing becomes more creative and a bit proggy for brutal death metal right near the three-quarters mark which I liked a lot. Album closer “Sinking into Catatonic Reality” pounces right out the gate to drag you down to hell with it for the final piece of the album. A beast of a final track, it slowed down, heavy as all hell vocals and guitars just get more intricate. Almost like the band was blending with moments of Cryptopsy-like precision and musical technicality. No dull moments on the track and will definitely be a great track when the band performs it live.
Eon of Obscenity is definitely Stabbing improving and taking a step in the right direction following Extirpated Mortal Process. At just over thirty minutes, it is to me a bit short in my opinion. With the final track wanting me to have one more or maybe two more tracks, but the band leaving me hanging. Slam/Brutal death metal has also begun to become more noticeable and having some popular acts begin to rise from the depths to popularity (see Sanguisugabogg). I was hoping Stabbing would do more to help them standout from their peers, having a more defining sound or something that makes you go “that’s definitely a Stabbing song”. Hopefully on album number three, Stabbing will deliver a titan of a brutal death metal record. Eon of Obscenity is definitely the band on the way to that, just not quite there yet.
SCORE: 3.5 / 5
You can buy Eon of Obscenity on Stabbing’s Bandcamp or stream in on their Spotify when the album comes out January 30th on Century Media Records.
