Oh goody, something that I totally haven’t heard a million times before. I’m only joking; this kind of thing has been reused more than a skanky freshman on spring break with a burning case of loneliness. Ok, “Oblivion” isn’t a sandwich of sh*t, but it is really bloated and tasteless. It is primarily granted this mediocre label because it is a ravenous, bestial cut of blackened death metal amplifying the brutality and violence of bands like Belphegor or Behemoth to a new level of destruction, but Noctem unfortunately tapped into the subgenre’s recycling bin to achieve this hereditary evil. The unrelenting wave of nonstop blast beats and shearing riffs should impress the average fan of Behemoth; however, there’s little in Noctem’s arsenal to truly revolutionize their constant hammering, and “Oblivion” quickly becomes a run-of-the-mill record after just a few listens.You'd think someone would've noticed the redundancy before, but nope, everyone continues going crazy because it sounds like Behemoth or whatever. And it's not like I have a problem with blackened death metal as you'd expect; these dudes just suck the relevancy right out of it. The average metalhead can piece together what "Oblivion" sounds like with little aid: listen to some Belphegor, picture a band digging through the hypothetical trash bit and then reusing the tremolo riffs and blast beats for fifty minutes. Abracadabra. The only real slice of originality Noctem brings to the table is their vocal approach, which includes screams and shouts alongside the expected guttural yelps of Satan and friends. Production wise, the drums are triggered and sound like firecrackers, and the guitar work stays safe, predictable, and ultimately boring. Some of the tremolo leads and riffs unsurprisingly blend together to the point of annoyance; it's actually quite pathetic, honestly. I spy with my little eyes five Spaniards that are clearly in need of a more-developed musical approach.
Moments of sanctuary are quite rare. The first few songs seem enjoyable...that is, until you've heard the rest of the album because it's all the same junk packaged and reshipped in different song titles. Noctem kind of adds a tablespoon of advanced songwriting throughout "A Borning Winged Snake" and "Unredemption," yet both are still plagued by overlapping themes and foreseeable structures. After ten burdensome anthems, the thirteen-minute title track plods on between the nailing riffs and destruction like all that came before it, except Noctem throws in an unneeded ambient/sampled interlude before the song finally concludes, with nothing gained and so much lost. There are a few interlude tracks that are kind of cool, but still, interludes don't make albums.
“Oblivion” is kind of like a Michael Bay film: just a lot of explosions. I know firsthand that nothing beats blowing sh*t up…sometimes, anyway. Their sheer hunger is plenty impressive, but that’s not enough to truly justify Noctem’s abandonment of relevancy. On one hand, Noctem can at least grasp the attention of the listener with this nonstop vehemence, yet the internal factors contributing to the wellbeing of “Oblivion” slowly corrode it from the inside out, leaving it almost unbearable by the final slab of overblown tracks and its useless, redundant conclusion. Perhaps Noctem and their volatile sophomore album will appeal to the hardcore Belphegor/Behemoth fans, but you should definitely do a barrel roll if you avoid generic blackened death metal like the plague.