Description
Obscura – Akroasis – Multi Color Splatter Vinyl Record
Limited 2559 copies
Akroasis by Obscura is a landmark technical death metal album that showcases the band’s extraordinary musicianship, progressive songwriting, and sophisticated approach to extreme metal composition. Released in 2016, Akroasis is widely regarded as one of the defining progressive and technical death metal records of the 2010s, combining blistering speed, complex rhythmic structures, neoclassical influences, jazz fusion elements, and atmospheric melodic passages into a highly intricate yet emotionally resonant listening experience. Led by vocalist, guitarist, and principal songwriter Steffen Kummerer, Obscura pushed the boundaries of modern extreme metal with an album that balances technical precision with cinematic scope and philosophical depth.
The title Akroasis comes from an ancient Greek word associated with hearing, interpretation, and philosophical listening, reflecting the album’s intellectual and conceptual ambitions. Lyrically, the record explores themes of cosmology, consciousness, existential reflection, metaphysics, and human perception, continuing the philosophical direction established in Obscura’s earlier releases. Rather than relying solely on aggression, the album creates an immersive and dynamic sonic landscape where technical complexity serves emotional and thematic storytelling.
Akroasis is celebrated for its virtuosic performances and highly detailed compositions. The album features rapid-fire riffing, fretless bass passages, sweeping arpeggios, intricate drum patterns, and sophisticated harmonic layering that draw influence from classical music, progressive rock, jazz fusion, and avant-garde metal. Guitarists Steffen Kummerer and Tom “Fountainhead” Geldschläger deliver some of the most technically advanced guitar work in modern death metal, while bassist Linus Klausenitzer and drummer Sebastian Lanser provide exceptionally fluid and mathematically precise rhythmic foundations. Despite its technical intensity, the album maintains strong melodic sensibilities, allowing songs to feel expansive and memorable rather than purely mechanical.
Tracks such as “Sermon of the Seven Suns,” “The Monist,” “Ten Sepiroth,” and the monumental title track “Akroasis” demonstrate the band’s ability to merge progressive songwriting with extreme metal brutality. The nearly 15-minute closing composition “Weltseele” stands as one of the album’s most ambitious achievements, blending orchestral arrangements, acoustic sections, progressive transitions, and symphonic textures into an epic finale that highlights Obscura’s compositional maturity and artistic vision.
Critics and fans praised Akroasis for elevating technical death metal into a more cinematic and emotionally layered form while maintaining the genre’s intensity and complexity. The album is frequently compared to influential progressive and technical metal acts such as Death, Necrophagist, Cynic, Beyond Creation, and Opeth. Many listeners consider it one of the finest examples of progressive technical death metal because it successfully balances intellectual complexity, emotional atmosphere, and extreme musical execution.
Akroasis remains a highly influential album within modern progressive and technical metal circles, admired for its ambitious songwriting, philosophical depth, and world-class musicianship. It stands as a defining release in Obscura’s discography and a modern classic for fans seeking extreme metal that combines technical brilliance with artistic sophistication and conceptual richness.
Brand new, never played and still sealed in the factory plastic
Track Listing
Sermon Of The Seven Suns
The Monist
Akróasis
Ten Sepiroth
Ode To The Sun
Fractal Dimension
Perpetual Infinity
Weltseele
Melos
