Ne Obliviscaris - "Exul"
Had me in the first half...
Man, this one’s tough.
On the one hand, Ne Obliviscaris demonstrate absolutely exquisite technical ability and instrumental composition. From the first note, these dudes are absolutely lighting their instruments on fire with pure effort. Album opener “Equus” starts it off with a 12-minute opus of epic proportions with the perfect blend of both harsh and clean vocals (two different vocalists, so sometimes going simultaneously). And it’s just a treat. Metal as ear-candy. Well, HARD ear-candy. Not sure which, cause there’s way too much going on to compare it to Werther’s Originals…..
Anyhow, the album never lets up. “Misericorde I - As The Flesh Falls” puts more emphasis on the harsh vocals, but the instrumentation is just so good I can’t hate it. “Misericorde II - Anatomy of Quiescence” spends about ⅔ of its nearly 9.5 minute runtime as an intense instrumental with a string duel between bass, guitar, and violin (Tim Charles, the clean vocalist, is the violinist) with the drummer serving as referee. Then both vocalists start in as well, and, again, the whole thing is amazing. And that’s half of the album, as the whole thing is only 6 tracks.
The last half of the album, though, loses the balance that the first half struck. “Suspyre” and “Graal” lean much more into the harsher aspects of the band’s sound, with only momentary glimpses of the other half, then the instrumental closing track, “Anhedonia”, goes full-tilt in the other direction for 3:43 (this is also half the length of the next-shortest track, at 7:33).
So the back half really doesn’t work for me, though the technical prowess never fades. For metalheads who lean more into those harsher aspects, I could see this album competing for AOTY honors. For me, it’s Green. Call it a 7.5.
Rating: Green