Obsequiae - Suspended in the Brume of Eos (2011)

Conceived originally as Autumnal Winds back in '98, AW released six demos before going on hiatus in '05 and then reforming under the Obsequiae moniker in '07. In '09 a limited demo cassette was released followed by this their debut album, 'Suspended in the Brume of Eos' just a few months ago.

With warm, rich and reflective guitar melodies, harsh raspy blackened vocals, mid-tempo playing and lyrics based around nature, 'Suspended in the Brume of Eos' is a unique and impressive album. Upon hearing the first song, 'Altars of Moss' you'd probably have thought this band to be from Finland or at least somewhere in northern Europe, but they hail from Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, and in a way it warms my heart to hear something different in the mid-west and in my case something fairly close to home too.

The duo of Blondel de Nesle (AKA Tanner Anderson of Celestiial) and Neidhart von Reuental create something along the lines of melodic folk influenced dark metal, and oddly not reminding me of anything dark or grim but as I touched upon earlier the highly melodic guitar melodies have a very reflective sort of vibe to them. In fact they actually sort of sound upbeat to my ears and remind me of warmth and good times with friends. I have no idea if that's what these folky melodic riffs were intended to sound like but that's what comes to mind every time I listen.

The songs generally move at a mid-tempo pace, but some parts and songs do move at a hastier pace, which may induce flying hair, but either way the songs are all very, very catchy with the melodious riffs and the overall atmosphere is immense too. After each metal song there's an acoustic interlude, which seems to carry that similar warm vibe to them, but with maybe just a slight bit of melancholy on these numbers as well. The raspy vocals are the only connection to anything really dark on this record and while they are fairly standard sounding I think they work quite well with the music they play. Maybe my only complaint would be that the production is a bit lacking, but its underground metal so not everything is going to be perfect.

In the end Obsequiae has created a memorable and exciting debut, which will certainly please anyone that's into exceptionally melodic and folky sounding metal and I can say without a doubt that this one will make my top ten list at the end of the year.