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Again, Obtest was that type of band I read somewhere or I heard talking about but I still hadn“t checked their music. Now the promo of their latest material got into my room and just a few seconds passed until I put the CD on the stereo, first song Paskutinė Akimirka grabbed my ears and I couldn“t help screaming aaaaaaaaaaaaaaarghh! raising my fist. Immense, exciting music! Lithuanian metallic entrepreneur Tadas Kazlauskas is doing things quite well promoting killer bands from the Baltic countries through his label Ledo Takas. These nations are surprising me every now and then with the quality of their bands, productions and feeling featured in the music. And as you may suppose from my review intro, Obtest is a perfect example. They come from Lithuania, and Iš Kartos Į Kartą (From Generation To Generation) is their third full-length album. Obtest play crushing pagan heavy metal the way just a few bands are able to do. Fury and melody collide in a grandiose liaison and give heavy metal a different approach than traditional high pitched vocals and self indulgent solos. This is fierce, fast powerful music sometimes next of kin to black metal stances; a calling of war, ruthless raw metal. No time for beauty happy passages or slow balladesque tunes of melancholy, just a straight forward sonic attack portraying plenty of catchy songs.
Overwhelming melodies of tracks like the opening track Paskutinė Akimirka, Pergalė or Audronaša, to name a few, are simply stunning and awesome. The aggressive rough vocals join the guitars in creating the basic melodic body, and this way they pull the heads out of their necks successfully with their groovy lines. Thunderous unrelenting drumming and a thick bass guitar force the listener to feel the barbaric hymns Obtest sing and play, for the lyrics are strongly influenced by their traditions and ancestors. This act captures perfectly the spirit of the past and the spirit of pagan metal as well. An astounding album. Too bad it arrived late for my pick of 2005 favourites...
| Tracklist |
| 1. Paskutinė Akimirka |
| 2. Devyniaragis |
| 3. Iš Kartos Į Kartą |
| 4. Pergalė |
| 5. Griausmavaldys |
| 6. Audronaša |
| 7. Burtai |
| 8. Pirmyn! |
| 9. Suminti Juodi Takai |
: 43.29
| Buy other Obtest albums |
