Nailed To Obscurity – Generation of the Void
Release Date: 5th September 2025
Label: Nuclear Blast Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Melodic Death Metal, Doom Metal, Progressive Metal.
FFO: Katatonia, Insomnium, Amorphis, Soen, Rivers of Nihil, Swallow The Sun, Opeth, Paradise Lost, Dark Tranquillity.
Review By: Rick Farley
Formed in Germany in 2005 by guitarists Jan-Ole Lamberti and Voker Dieken, Nailed To Obscurity has carved out their own sonic transformation since their early days of their debut album, Abyss, released in 2007. Proving their resilience from line-up changes early on, the Germans honed their melancholic yet crushing sound with 2013’s Opaque and 2017’s King Delusion. The band started with a relatively straight forward death metal sound with doom tendencies. Over the course of time, they have developed a more melodic and progressive sound, with minimal loss of crushing riffs and a huge increase in melancholy. Now 2025 brings us the bands most evolved record, Generation of the Void, further delving into a focused accessibility aligning with a more contemporary sound, setting the stage for the realization of the band’s next chapter. Much in the same way as Swallow the Sun did last year, which I admittedly was not a fan of. This record could divide the fanbase to some degree, but I would be wrong to think this won’t gain them a ton of new fans in the process.
First and foremost, this is a really good record, my score may not reflect that as much as what this review will say, but hopefully that will be explained by the end of the review.
Nailed To Obscurity is filled with lush textures, heavy memorable hooks and doomy synth atmosphere, the juxtaposition of opening track Glass Bleeding is an excellent start to introducing a different approach to heaviness and gloom while fully letting you know the newer direction the band is taking. Starting with full bore progressive brutality before it settles into melodic tinged verses that lean more towards lighter textured rock atmosphere. It reaches its boiling point of blast beats and disgustingly heavy walls of riffs after a spirited guitar solo, and never lets up till all of your bones are completely broken. Overcast is a stompy death metal behemoth with plenty of neck wrecking throughout. The atmospheric middle section shows the band is capable of switching gears and still staying within the structure. Clouded Frame takes its shape from metal tinged progressiveness with silky clean vocals before it erupts into crushing death metal and deepened growls. Shifting back and forth between the two while still sounding intensely cohesive. Every track is crisp, rich and huge sounding. The production is downright phenomenal.
This sounds more focused than ever, however Nailed To Obscurity has expanded their sound much further into the mainstream metal realm that it sounds like a mixture of Katatonia, newer Swallow The Sun with flourishes of older Opeth, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. My issue is that there are too many times where it sounds too much like that, which makes it hard to focus on this record as its own thing. I don’t want to pigeonhole it down to just a few bands because the band is more than that, and it is actually a really good record, but if I want to hear music similar to this newer record, I will just go to those other bands. Their previous three records had their own heaviness, darkness, and doom that set them apart more so than this one does. Both Opaque and King Delusion are straight killers. Bitching and moaning aside, Generation of the Void is a record that will resonate with metal fans in hordes. So, I encourage you to check this out for yourself. Despite my view of it, I have a feeling this will be highly regarded, as it should be. Just by the proper ears.
(3.5 / 5)
