While getting the manuscript for Daniel Ekeroth’s Swedish Death Metal ready for print, I picked up a good copy of Obscurity’s 2nd demo, “Damnation’s Pride,” from 1987. I don’t think the world could have been handed a bigger hint that Sweden would take over everything in five years’ time.
Their truth-in-advertising band name aside, Obscurity had a commanding presence. A far cry from their chaotic first demo (where the guitarists dubbed in drums after recording everything else!), “Damnation’s Pride” is just a triumph of ripping madness. The thick guitars, the gut-spewing vocals, the intense speed, and most of all that loveable Swedish death-groove are already in full swing here. If you like Nihilist’s 1988 demos but want to go deeper into the genesis of death metal, look no further:
OBSCURITY * “Damnations Pride” demo 1987 [14.9MB .rar]
My friends at Scarlet Records in Italy reissued both demos on CD back in 1998. The band themselves host a cryptic web site HERE, and their minimal MySpace streaming the four songs from this demo is HERE. Now if only the band would reform…
They switched out the songs on their MySpace page today, but the stuff there now (earlier?) is still worth the time. Great harsh thrash! Awesome.