Obvurt – Triumph Beyond Adversity
Release Date: 2nd December 2022
Label: Unique Leader Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Brutal Technical Death Metal
FFO: Hate Eternal, Immolation, Morbid Angel, Defeated Sanity.
Review By: Rick Farley
Obvurt, an amalgamation of the words obvert (to oppose) and hurt (to wound), was created in 2020 as a side solo project by Philippe Drouin. In 2016, he was involved in a car accident that left him with little use of his picking hand. Unable to play guitar due to his severe injury. Rather than quitting, he carried on, and reminded us of strong human perseverance and unbreakable spirit by completely relearning how to play left-handed. It was a three-year undertaking, estimated at seven thousand hours of practice under the tutelage of famously ambidextrous shredder, guitar tutor Michael Angelo Batio. Now 2022 bring us the band’s debut LP Triumph Beyond Adversity being unleashed on Unique Leader Records. After the well-received EP, The Beginning, which was a concept EP based on Drouin’s accident and inspirational recovery story, this will be the Quebec based death metal trio’s first full length record with Drouin as a leftie.
On paper, Triumph Beyond Adversity is labelled as technical death metal. A label that I believe unfairly pigeonholes the band as one dimensional. The album is jam packed with mind-numbing technical brutality. Gnarly gutturals from hell, twisting riffs, frantic pacing, virtuosic solos, and insane mind-blowing drums. Mammoth sounding bass leads, unusual chord progressions and phrasing, all within the confines of incredible musicianship. However, it’s the songs themselves that sets Obvurt apart. Each one individually, are well written, all with memorable grooves locked in, creative progressive elements, and tons of melody scattered throughout the extremely ruthless atmosphere. Aggressive technical death metal that shows a little heart right before it rips yours out.
I do have a few gripes I need to address, though. The first being, the instrumental opening track with spoken words, does not fit with the rest of the album and would have been better off without it. It seems very out of place and unnecessary. Secondly, minus the instrumental, the album is only thirty-two minutes and feels noticeably short. Lastly, while the vocals do fit the music, by the second half of the record they get a bit monotonous. That’s not to say I don’t think they’re good, because I do, however everything else is so top-notch, I wish the gutturals had a little bit more personality.
That being said, savage songs like One Last Thing with it’s churning basslines, twisted sharp riffs and lead guitar melodies just pummel the living daylights out of you, making sure you’ll remember its skilful brutality. Some Death guitar vibes in certain parts mixed with hints of Gojira type melodies adds some uniqueness to the vicious song. Heavy as fuck, Versus is a straight stank faced riff that shifts into swirling guitars and blasting drums, while Second Chance is a huge dose of brutal death metal just set to kill. Destroying double bass and Immolation inspired riffs punish without mercy. Halfway from Theory is a powerful maelstrom of shifting riffs and drum tempos that showcases the bands technicality within the strength of the song writing.
Triumph Beyond Adversity is a record that will benefit from repeated listens as it’s fairly layered in the sense that it seems to reveal more of itself each time. Sonically it sounds incredible, it’s thick without being clouded. It’s crisp and absolutely sounds crushing. Worth checking out. 
(3.5 / 5)
