Praise The Plague – The Obsidian Gate
Release Date: 30th July 2021
Label: Lifeforce Records
Pre-Order/Pre-Save
Genre: Black metal, Sludge with Doom touches.
FFO: Cult Of Luna, Celeste, Russian Circles, Ancst.
Review By: Martha Skourteli
Praise The Plague originate from Berlin and are a quintet with former members of Earth Ship and Ånd. Their 3rd album The Obsidian Gate, which will be released on the 30th of July by Lifeforce Records, is what you would suggest to someone who’s asking “what black metal sounds like?”. Indeed the protagonist in their music is the combination of blasting drums with guitars.The songs are dressed of course with high pitched black metal vocals leaving no question as to where you put their work in your collection.
The album consists of 6 songs that create an eerie atmosphere throughout the whole album. Just imagine the darkest foggy place, full of rocks and burnt trees and get ready to listen.
The intro song “The Descent” is really what the title says. You go down into your personal hell (you’re given the pace with the drums) and the deeper you go the harder it gets. Midway through you get one of the two highlights of the album (the other one being the song “Great Collapse”.) A calm break from the hammering of your thoughts about your past life and despair with a guitar that’s trying to keep you sane but don’t be fooled. This won’t last and the little breath you take will be over very soon. Immediately you’re back to your suffering and this will be your trip in the whole Obsidian Gate.
The second highlight is the presence of female spoken vocals in “Great Collapse” that evolves to a heavy storm of male screams. “Great Collapse” is the song I’m gonna favour in the album since it has a doomier approach which I loved.
The lyrics are really dark and the feelings you get are despair, depression, a sense of suffering, torture, endless internal pain and the question “why am I still here”. The band expresses clearly what Nihilism is all about.
Don’t search for the way out. Once you get in their world of nothingness you’re trapped.
(4 / 5)
