UMUR "Putrefying Illusions" is the 2nd full-length studio album by German death metal act Obscure Infinity. The album was released through Obscure Domain Productions in July 2012 and it´s the successor to "Dawn Of Winter" from 2010. Obscure Infinity were formed in 2007 with the declared goal to play old school death metal, and that they do on "Putrefying Illusions"...

...which continues down the same musical path as it´s predecessor. That means a traditional early 90s death metal style, which predominantly draws influences from the Swedish, Stockholm scene, but isn´t limited to sounding like a retro clone of that scene. The music is very retrospective though, and we´re exposed to just about everything that was great about the early 90s death metal scene. Deep and brutal, yet relatively intelligible growling vocals, downtuned distorted guitar riffs. Both tremolo picking, and longer sustained chords for crushingly heavy doomy effect, effectful lead guitars, either playing solos, or providing the music with gloomy and morbid themes, classical oriented acoustic guitar interludes, and an overall dark and mystic atmosphere. Add to that ethereal songtitles like "The Wilting Splendour", "From the Bleak Spots to Infinity", and "Ascension-Kenosis", and you should be able to easily figure out what territory we´re in.

That songwriting approach could have ended up being a generic and tedious listening experience, but Obscure Infinity manage to play the style with passion and conviction. They are very skilled songwriters too, and obviously know exactly which elements to put where, for most impact on the listener. The album is well produced too, featuring a raw, yet detailed sound production, which suits the material well. So upon conclusion "Putrefying Illusions" isn´t a very original sounding release, but it´s both skillfully performed, well produced, and well written, so a 4 star (80%) rating isn´t all wrong.

UMUR "Perpetual Descending into Nothingness" is the 3rd full-length studio album by German death metal act Obscure Infinity. The album was released through F.D.A. Rekotz in January 2015. Obscure Infinity was formed in 2007 and released their debut full-length studio album "Dawn Of Winter" in 2010, which was followed up by "Putrefying Illusions" in 2012.

The music on the album pretty much continues where "Putrefying Illusions (2012)" left off. This is old school death metal with very few surprises in terms of originality and composition. Obscure Infinity opens the album with a very melodic instrumental intro track, and they make good use of melody throughout the album, but this is not as such melodic death metal (although there are occasional references to melodic blackened death metal acts like Unanimated and Dissection in the music). Melodies are just used for effect and atmosphere, and also provide the music with variation. While the songwriting may not be original in any way, it´s damn solid though, and the quality of the material should be able to impress most fans of the genre.

The band are also very well playing (the vocals are relatively intelligible growling type vocals), and the album features a professional sound production, which isn´t too polished, but raw and authentic to fit with the music. So all in all "Perpetual Descending into Nothingness" is another quality release by Obscure Infinity and proof that even though you don´t play the most original music style, dedication, passion, and conviction, can also bring you far. A 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.

UMUR "Dawn Of Winter" is the debut full-length studio album by German death metal act Obscure Infinity. The album was released in August 2010 by Obscure Domain Productions.

The music on the album is old school death metal. I hear influences from both the Swedish scene and the early US scene. The music is simple, brutal and effective. The vocals are convincing deep decipherable growls spiced up with the occassional higher pitched scream. To paint a picture of how old school this release actually is I´ll mention that there are absolutely no "core" elements, no technical playing or scale shredding and no polished clean production present on this album. "Dawn Of Winter" could just as well have been released in the early nineties and would probably have been greatly succesful if it had. It´s raw and brutal and the guitar leads that occur from time to time are not of the pretty melodeath kind. 8 out of the 11 tracks on the album are out and out old school death metal tracks but Obscure Infinity has opted to include a short intro and two acoustic guitar interludes on the album too. The latter two both function as little breathers. While I mentioned above that there are no technical playing on the album, I´d like to stress that the band are more than competent musicians, so fortunately no sloppy playing.

The production is dark and raw and suits the music well.

A lot of water has run under the bridge since the early nineties, and while the vast majority of retro death metal acts deliver standard to good releases, once in a while a release like "Dawn Of Winter" pops up and gets my full attention. Obscure Infinity is so convincing in their delivery of their music, that you quickly forget that the boys in the band probably can´t spell the word innovation. This commands respect and I have no problem handing out a 4 star rating.