The Obelisk Questionnaire is a series of open questions intended to give the answerer an opportunity to explore these ideas and stories from their life as deeply as they choose. Answers can be short or long, and that reveals something in itself, but the most important factor is honesty.

Based on the Proust Questionnaire, the goal over time is to show a diverse range of perspectives as those who take part bring their own points of view to answering the same questions. To see all The Obelisk Questionnaire posts, click here.

Thank you for reading and thanks to all who participate.

The Obelisk Questionnaire: Obiat

—

How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?

Neil Dawson: I try and convince people I can hit things in a musical fashion and hang out with musicians. I initially tried to take up guitar under my dad’s influence but I didn’t have the patience for it. I remember being in a music lesson at school, at 13 years old, hearing some drums from another room. I asked the teacher (Mr. Root – RIP) what was going on, who said it was drum lessons and they were free. Would I be interested? (worth noting, you also got 15mins out of class to do it) so it was a no brainer, I signed myself straight up and never looked back. I joined as many bands as possible whether it be punk rock, indie or just random covers and we would practice in the music rooms after school every night. Our deputy head (Mr. Dooley) found out that I played drums and asked me to join his dance band, doing blues and jazz songs, so I did that on Saturdays too.

Raf Reutt: For me, it was 90’s death metal that made me want to play riffs in a band. I then discovered Danzig and Soundgarden, Mudhoney and AIC. The idea of Obiat started shaping up. I went through Noise (Amphetamine Reptile Records) but it wasn’t until I was blown away with the sound of Kyuss, early Sleep and dub that Obiat’s path became clear. Our 1st album was basically my interpretation of Kyuss and Sleep riffs. My appreciation of 70’s classic rock came later and it was The Doors before Black Sabbath. Obiat’s sound nowadays is the outcome of all members’ input and influences. We’ve progressed to a harder hitting more immediate band with improved production, although we still love to go hypnotic and mellow in places.

Alex Nervo: An endless river of creativity fuelled by all the musical data collected through the years. I used to draw a lot when I was a kid but when I discovered my dad’s electric guitar I settled for music.

Describe your first musical memory?

ND: I have a few memories in different settings… early on it was listening to things like Madonna/Gloria Estafan tapes in my mum’s car coming home from primary school. At home, I remember singing along with my dad and sisters around while he played his guitar (there’s some embarrassing video footage somewhere). I remember taking ‘Survivor – Eye of the tiger’ on tape up to my room when I was about 8/9, and playing it over and over, trying to write the words down. As for live experiences, Green Day was my first gig in Leeds (aside from seeing bands at school) when I was 14. I felt sick at the end from crowd surfing so much.

RR: Growing up in Eastern Europe, before CDs and cassettes, we had cheap Bulgarian and Russian vinyls which were my mum’s. Kim Wilde, Kids in America, Rolling Stones and a Hungarian band, Omega.

AN: Listening to ’70s funk on the radio while riding my bike in the backyard.

Describe your best musical memory to date?

ND: Writing and recording ‘EyeTreePi’ was pretty epic. Recording at a studio owned by Dave Anderson of Hawkwind and working with Chris Fielding and Billy Anderson. The follow up tours were great experiences, especially ‘Stoner Hands of Doom’ in Erfurt, Germany. That was a gooooood gig/night. We ended up staying in this hostel which was an ex-police station, complete with cells.

RR: A collaboration I witnessed live of Neurosis & Jarboe and all the Slayer gigs I went to. As for Obiat, I’d echo what Neil mentioned and add the journey that our new album has taken us on, including the ups & downs, now that it’s finished and we can reflect on it.

AN: Same as ND, that night in Erfurt was pretty special.

When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?

ND: When we started writing ‘Indian Ocean’ and were like “this is cool, we’ll have this finished and out in no time at all…..”.

RR: When Trump won a presidency. I always believed peoples sanity would prevail… I was wrong. Also the pandemic period. As a social worker, I suffered burn out and compassion fatigue, which I didn’t believe I could pull through from. I did :-).

AN: Never really as I don’t hold on firmly to any belief, I just look at the facts and make my own mind up.

Where do you feel artistic progression leads?

ND: If I interpret this right, as in getting better on your instruments and better at working with your bandmates… Well I guess, exactly that – it leads to a more well rounded band and satisfaction that you’re all getting closer to a complete collaboration where everyone is as involved as the next member, pulling their weight so to speak. I think it opens up more opportunities to be creative and think outside the box which we do like to do. I think we’ve cracked that on ‘Indian Ocean’. If not, we will have by the time our next album is ready… or the next one after that… actually will we ever crack it… Who knows haha.

RR: It leads wherever we want it to, as long as we remain open minded and have freedom of expression….and funds haha. I believe it is always good to return to basics. Don’t overdo it.

AN: It could lead to many places depending on the circumstances, for many famous act that means complacency and self indulgence, for the hungry and starving musician it’s a free expression of that state of mind.

How do you define success?

ND: As a band, we are all happy with what we produced in the past and we’re really happy with our upcoming album ‘Indian Ocean’, so I guess that is success. There’s always that excitable idea that people will like what you do as a band and as an individual part in that band, however many people that may be, so that would be a bonus success. I think we know that we’ll never be able to rely on our music as our sole income in life and retire comfortably as it’s not mainstream enough and doesn’t appeal to the masses (I mean what’s wrong with the world haha) so we’re not chasing financial success, just like minded people as fans. That said, some money wouldn’t hurt to help us continue to write and record without being bankrupt. It does stretch you trying to pay for recording, mixing, mastering, pressing of physical releases and any equipment that needs replacing, servicing or maintaining but hey, it’s our hobby.

RR: When you feel an urge to express yourself through art and you have the courage and a platform to do it and you find likeminded people who appreciate it. Knowing someone’s there on the other side of the world, who you’ve never met, has your band’s album on the shelf because they like it… thats success and all
the satisfaction we need. We never made any money out of music anyway, so our expectations shifted from dreams we may once have had in our teens/early years as musicians.

AN: It’s gaining the desired outcome from a task or performance. For most of us it’s mainly money, for me it’s some economical gratification but mostly sharing something special through our music with like minded people, something that withstand the test of time.

What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?

ND: The world struggle with Covid 19 and now Ukraine struggling to defend themselves alone. Lots of upsetting scenes across the globe to be honest… I wish we could all just get along and look out for each other but that’s the human race.

RR: Some of the social media posts of people I know ;-). Everything we experience helps to shape our personalities. There are a few things I struggle to get out of my mind. A body of a woman under a bendy bus, when I was a boy in primary school. As an adult, I saw a screaming mother on her knees holding her dead teenage son following a gang-style execution, which happened outside a place I used to live in London. I didn’t see the killer but heard the shots fired.

AN: Nothing, everything we have seen and experienced makes us who we are, knowledge is pain but still better than the fake reality of ignorance. Seeing some of my old friends disintegrate and fading away was hard though.

Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create?

ND: Our fifth album or a split LP. Include some more synth soundscapes. We watched Naxatras recently live and it was very cool.

RR: Dark minimal ambient electronic music…..and more albums with heavy riffs :-).

AN: Our best album. Some solo stuff I’ve been working on for decades now but it still is unfinished.

What do you believe is the most essential function of art?

ND: To offer ourselves and other people something familiar but different, to make us think, smile and carry on passionately with what we’ve always loved doing.

RR: As someone once said ‘Earth without art is just Eh’. It’s the best alternative to religion there is in my opinion.

AN: it’s the splash of colours onto the gray canvas of life. it brings out the Chaos in us in a more understandable form, art is basically a language. A song, a painting or a book can tell many tales if you’re careful enough to listen.

Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?

ND: Hanging out as a full band again one day, even just for a coffee or beer and laugh altogether again and hopefully seeing my kids make good decisions and do something I can be proud of.

RR: Seeing my daughter growing up healthy and happy. A new Don Winslow book :-)

AN: Comedy shows, I like how comedians can say something utterly meaningful and true while making you laugh your arse off. Visiting the old world again, where history was made, Europe is my homeland, I don’t care for individual countries, I think that concept has been made redundant now. Seeing the bandmates and some good ol’ friends would be a blast.

https://www.facebook.com/Obiatband
https://www.instagram.com/_obiat_/
https://obiat.bandcamp.com/

Obiat, Indian Ocean (2022)

As will happen during a Quarterly Review, I’ve sort of found myself thinking there’s a ton of stuff that I don’t want to see get lost in the shuffle, and I’ve decided to focus this episode of The Obelisk Show on Gimme Metal on making sure that doesn’t happen.

‘Selections from the QR’ may be the theme here, but what it rounds out to is a cool mix of mostly new music either way. Goes without saying that with 100 releases covered, there was plenty to choose from, and indeed I might end up doing a second of these — it was a two-week Quarterly Review after all, ending today — but if you’ve kept up with that or not, this is a summary of some of what was included. Like the Quarterly Review itself, it’s pretty heavy on vibe and atmosphere, but there are a couple bangers in there too that, along with the rest, I most certainly hope you enjoy.

Thanks if you listen and thanks for reading.

The Obelisk Show airs 5PM Eastern today on the Gimme app or at: http://gimmemetal.com.

Full playlist:

The Obelisk Show – 09.30.22 (VT = voice track)

Mezzoa	Moya	Dunes of Mars
Lightrain	Hyd	AER
Spirit Adrift	Mass Formation Psychosis	20 Centuries Gone
VT
Cachemira	Ambos Mundos	Ambos Mundos
Goatriders	The Garden	Traveler
Garden of Worm	In the Absence of Memory	Endless Garden
Church of the Cosmic Skull	Now’s the Time	There is No Time
Voidward	Chemicals	Voidward
Early Moods	Curse the Light	Early Moods
Maunra	Lightbreather	Monarch
Obiat	Ulysses	Indian Ocean
Reverend Mother	Locomotive	Damned Blessing
Deer Creek	A Dark, Heartless Machine	Menticide
Trillion Ton Beryllium Ships	Mystical Consumer	Consensus Trance
Blacklab	Abyss Woods	In a Bizarre Dream
VT
The Gray Goo	Bicycle Day	1943
Les Lekin	Ascent	Limbus

The Obelisk Show on Gimme Metal airs every Friday 5PM Eastern, with replays Sunday at 7PM Eastern. Next new episode is Oct. 14 (subject to change). Thanks for listening if you do.

Gimme Metal website

The Obelisk on Facebook

On occasion, throughout the last eight years or so that I’ve been doing this kind of Quarterly Review roundup thing, I’ve been asked how I do it. The answer is appallingly straightforward. I do it one record at a time, listening to as much music as possible and writing as much as I can. If you were curious, there you go.

If, more likely, you weren’t curious, now you know anyway. Shall we?

Quarterly Review #31-40:

Russian Circles, Gnosis

You wanna know how big a deal Russian Circles are? I didn’t even get a promo of this record. Granted, I’m nobody, but still. So anyway, here I am like a fucking sucker, about to tell you Gnosis is the heaviest and most intense thing Russian Circles — with whose catalog I’m just going to assume you’re familiar because they’re that big a deal and you’re pretty hip; bet you got a download to review, or at least an early stream — have ever done and it means literally nothing. Just makes me feel stupid and lame. I really want to like this album. That chug in “Conduit?” Fuck yeah. That wash in “Betrayal?” Even that little minimalist stretch of “Ó Braonáin.” The way “Tupilak” rumbles to life at the outset. That’s my shit right there. Chug chug crush crush, pretty part. So anyway, instead of sweating it forever, I’ll probably shut Gnosis off when I’m done here and never listen to it again. Thanks. Who gives a shit? Exactly. Means nothing to anyone. Tell me why I do this? Why even give it the space? Because they’re that big a deal and I’m the nerdy fat kid forever. Total fucking stooge. Fuck it and fuck you too.

Russian Circles on Facebook

Sargent House store

—

 

Church of the Cosmic Skull, There is No Time

Are not all gods mere substitutes for the power of human voices united in song? And why not tonight for finding the grace within us? As Brother Bill, Sister Caroline and their all-colours Septaphonic congregation of siblings tell us, we’re only one step away. I know you’ve been dragged down, wrung out, you’ve seen the valleys and hills, but now’s the time. Church of the Cosmic Skull come forward again with the message of galactic inner peace and confronting the unreality of reality through choral harmonies and progressive heavy rock and roll, and even the Cosmic Mother herself must give ear. Come, let us bask in the light of pure illumination and revolutionary suicide. Let us find what we lost somewhere. All gods die, but you and I can live forever and spread ourselves across the universe like so much dust from the Big Bang. We’ll feel the texture of the paper. We’ll be part of the team. Oh, fellow goers into the great Far Out, there’s reverence being sung from the hills with such spirit behind it. Can you hear? Will you? There’s nothing to fear here, nothing sinister. Nothing to be lost except that which has held you back all along. Let it all move, and go. Open your eyes to feel all seven rays, and stand peeled like an onion, naked, before the truth being told. Do this. Today.

Church of the Cosmic Skull on Facebook

Church of the Cosmic Skull store

—

 

Pretty Lightning, Dust Moves

Saarbrücken duo Pretty Lightning follow 2020’s stellar Jangle Bowls (review here) with a collection of 14 instrumental passages that, for all their willful meandering, never find themselves lost. Heady, Dead Meadowy vibes persist on ramblers like “Sediment Swing” and “Splinter Bowl,” but through spacious drone and the set-the-mood-for-whatever “Glide Gently (Into the Chasm),” which is both opener and the longest track (immediate points) at just over five minutes, the clear focus is on ambience. I wouldn’t be the first to liken some of Dust Moves to Morricone, and sure, “Powdermill” has some of that Dollars-style reverb and “The Secret is Locked Inside” lays out a subtle nighttime threat in its rattlesnake shaker, but these ideas are bent and shaped to Pretty Lightning‘s overarching purpose, and even with 14 songs, the fact that the album only runs 43 minutes should tell you that even as they seem to head right into the great unknown wilderness of intent, they never dwell in any single position for too long, and are in no danger of overstaying their welcome. Extra kudos for the weirdness of “Crystal Waltz” tucked right into the middle of the album next to “The Slow Grinder.” Sometimes experiments work.

Pretty Lightning on Facebook

Fuzz Club Records store

—

 

Wizzerd, Space‽: Issue No. 001

Combining burly modern heavy riffage, progressive flourish and a liberal dose of chicanery, Montana’s Wizzerd end up in the realm of Howling Giant and a more structurally-straightforward Elder without sounding directly like either of them. Their Fuzzorama Records label debut, the quizzically punctuated Space‽: Issue No. 001 echoes its title’s obvious nods to comic book culture with a rush of energy in songs like “Super Nova” and “Attack of the Gargantuan Moon Spiders,” the swinging “Don’t Zorp ‘n’ Warp” space-progging out in its second half as though to emphasize the sheer delight on the part of the band doing something unexpected. So much the better if they’re having fun too. The back half of the outing after the duly careening “Space Chase” is blocked off by the noisy “Transmission” and the bleep-bloop “End Transmission” — which, if we’re being honest is a little long at just under five minutes — but finds the band establishing a firm presence of purpose in “Doom Machine Smoke Break” and the building “Diosa del Sol” ahead of the record’s true finishing moment, “Final Departure Part 1: The Intergalactic Keep of the Illustrious Cosmic Woman,” which is both an adventure in outer space and a melodic highlight. This one’s a party and you’re invited.

Wizzerd on Facebook

Fuzzorama Records store

—

 

Desert 9, Explora II

Desert 9 is one of several projects founded by synthesist Peter Bell through a collective/studio called Mutaform in the Brindisi region of Southern Italy (heel of the boot), and the seven-song/63-minute Explora II follows quickly behind June’s Explora I and works on a similar theme of songs named for different deserts around the world, be it “Dasht-e Margo,” “Mojave,” “Gobi” or “Arctic.” What unfolds in these pieces is mostly long-ish-form instrumental krautrock and psychedelic exploration — “Arctic” is an exception at a somewhat ironically scorching three and a half minutes; opener “Namib” is shorter, and jazzier, as well — likewise immersive and far-outbound, with Bell‘s own synth accompanied on its journeys by guitar, bass and drums, the former two with effects to spare. I won’t take away from the sunburn of “Sonoran” at the finish, but the clazzic-cool swing of “Chihuahuan” is a welcome respite from some of the more thrust-minded fare, at least until the next solo starts and eats the second half of the release. The mix is raw, but I think that’s part of the idea here, and however much of Explora II was improvised and/or recorded live, it sounds like the four-piece just rolled up, hit record and went for it. Not revolutionary in aesthetic terms, but inarguable in vitality.

Mutaform on Facebook

Mutaform on Bandcamp

—

 

Gagulta, Gagulta

Originally pressed to tape in 2019 through Fuzz Ink and brought to vinyl through Sound Effect Records, Greek sludgers Gagulta begin their self-titled debut with an evocation of the Old Ones before unfurling the 13-minute assault of “Dead Fiend/Devil’s Lettuce,” the second part of which is even slower than the first. Nods and screams, screams and nods, riffs and kicks and scratches. “Late Beer Cult” is no less brash or disaffected, the Galatsi-based trio of ‘vokillist’ Johny Oldboy, baritone bassist Xen and drummer Jason — no need for last names; we’re all friends here — likewise scathing and covered in crust. Side B wraps with the 10-minute eponymous “Gagulta” — circle pit into slowdown into even noisier fuckall — but not before “Long Live the Undead” has dirty-steamrolled through its four minutes and the penultimate “War” blasts off from its snare count-in on a punk-roots-revealing surge that plays back and forth with tortured, scream-topped slow-riff madness. I don’t know if the Old Ones would be pleased, but if at any point you see a Gagulta backpatch out in the wild, that person isn’t fucking around and neither is this band. Two years after its first release, it remains monstrous.

Gagulta on Facebook

Sound Effect Records store

Fuzz Ink Records store

—

 

Obiat, Indian Ocean

Some 20 years removed from their debut album, Accidentally Making Enemies, and 13 past their most recent, 2009’s Eye Tree Pi (review here), London’s Obiat return at the behest of guitarist/keyboardist Raf Reutt and drummer Neil Dawson with the duly massive Indian Ocean, an eight-song collection spanning an hour’s listening time that brings together metallic chug and heavy post-rock atmospherics, largesse of tone and melody central to the proceedings from opener “Ulysses” onward. Like its long-ago predecessor, Alex Nervo‘s bass (he also adds keys and guitar) is a major presence, and in addition to vocalist Sean Cooper, who shines emotively and in the force of his delivery throughout, there are an assortment of guests on “Eyes and Soul,” “Nothing Above,” “Sea Burial” and subdued closer “Lightness of Existence,” adding horns, vocals, flute, and so on to the wash of volume from the guitar, bass, drums, keys, and though parts were recorded in Wales, England, Australia, Sweden, Norway and Hungary, Indian Ocean is a cohesive, consuming totality of a record that does justice to the long wait for its arrival while also earning as much volume as you can give it through its immersive atmospherics and sheer aural heft that leads to the ambient finish. It is not a minor undertaking, but it walks the line between metal and post-metal and has a current of heavy rock beneath it in a way that is very much Obiat‘s, and if they’re really back to being a band again — that is, if it’s not another 13 years before their next record — watch out.

Obiat on Facebook

Obiat on Bandcamp

—

 

Maunra, Monarch

Vienna five-piece Maunra enter the fray of the harsher side of post-metal with Monarch, their self-released-for-now debut full-length. With throaty growling vocals at the forefront atop subtly nuanced double-guitars and bouts of all-out chugga-breakdown riffing like that in “Wuthering Seas,” they’re managing to dare to bring a bit of life and energy to the generally hyper-cerebral style, and that rule-breaking continues to suit them in the careening “Embers” and the lumbering stomp-mosh of the title-track such that even when the penultimate “Lightbreather” shifts into its whispery/wispy midsection — toms still thudding behind — there’s never any doubt of their bringing the shove back around. I haven’t seen a lyric sheet, so can’t say definitively whether or not opener “Between the Realms” is autobiographical in terms of the band describing their own aesthetic, but their blend of progressivism and raw impact is striking in that song and onward, and it’s interesting to hear an early ’00s metal influence creep into the interplay of lead and rhythm guitar on that opener and elsewhere. At seven tracks/41 minutes, Monarch proffers tonal weight and rhythmic force, hints toward more melodic development to come, and underscores its focus on movement by capping with the especially rousing “Windborne.” Reportedly the album was five years in the making. Time not wasted.

Maunra on Facebook

Maunra on Bandcamp

—

 

Brujas del Sol, Deculter

Still mostly instrumental, formerly just-Ohio-based progressive heavy rockers Brujas del Sol answer the steps they took in a vocalized direction on 2019’s II (review here) with the voice-as-part-of-the-atmosphere verses of “To Die on Planet Earth” and “Myrrors” on their third album, Deculter, but more importantly to the actual listening experience of the record is the fact that they’ve never sounded quite this heavy. Sure, guitarist Adrian Zambrano (also vocals) and bassist Derrick White still provide plenty of synth to fill out those instrumentalist spaces and up the general proggitude, and that’s a signal sent clearly with the outset “Intro,” but Joshua Oswald (drums/vocals) pounds his snare as “To Live and Die on Planet Earth” moves toward its midsection, and the aggression wrought there is answered in both the guitar and bass tones as 12-minute finishing move “Arcadia” stretches into its crescendo, more about impact than the rush of “Divided Divinity” earlier on, rawer emotionally than the keyboardier reaches of “Lenticular,” but no less thoughtful in its construction. Each piece (even that intro) has an identity of its own, and each one makes Deculter a stronger offering.

Brujas del Sol on Facebook

Kozmik Artifactz website

—

 

Sergeant Thunderhoof, This Sceptred Veil

A definite 2LP at nine songs and 68 minutes, Sergeant Thunderhoof‘s fifth full-length, This Sceptred Veil, is indeed two albums’ worth of album, and the songs bear that out in their complexity and sense of purpose as well. Not to harp, but even the concluding two-parter “Avon/Avalon” is a lot to take in after what’s come before it, but what Bath, UK, troupe vary their songwriting and bring a genuine sense of presence to the material that even goes beyond the soaring vocals to the depth of the mix more generally. There’s heavy rock grit to “Devil’s Daughter” (lil eyeroll there) and progressive reach to the subsequent “Foreigner,” a lushness to “King Beyond the Gates” and twisting riffs that should earn pleased nods from anyone who’s been swept up in Green Lung‘s hooky pageantry, and opener “You’ve Stolen the Words” sets an expectation for atmosphere and a standard for directness of craft — as well as stellar production — that This Sceptred Veil seems only too happy to meet. A given listener’s reaction to the ’80s metal goofery of “Show Don’t Tell” will depend on said listener’s general tolerance for fun, but don’t let me spoil that for them or you. Yeah, it’s a substantial undertaking. Five records in, Sergeant Thunderhoof knew that when they made it, and if you’ve got the time, they’ve got the tunes. Album rocks front to back.

Sergeant Thunderhoof on Facebook

Pale Wizard Records store

—

 

Good show. Good tracks. Two Acid King songs to start, new stuff from Nebula, Sasquatch, Obiat, Torpedo Torpedo, Les Nadie — with whose debut album I am enthralled; review next week — Chat Pile, Brujas del Sol, Cities of Mars, Freedom Hawk (also reviewing next week). Classics from YOB, The Devin Townsend Band, Yawning Man, Kyuss, Sleep. New classic, anyhow, from the latter and a live cut from Yawning Man that’s gorgeously immersive to end out before the bonus track Freedom Hawk closes. I don’t know how much sense it makes on paper, but it flows well.

I don’t really have a theme here other than “make a good show.” I wanted to mix it up with stuff people might know and not, hopefully keep listeners hooked. Even 89 episodes of The Obelisk Show, I still a little bit live in fear that at some point Gimme Metal is going to be like, “You’re weird, you play weird shit, you never turn your playlists in on time and you suck at this,” and give me the axe. It’s happened to me on radio before (ask me about that some time; glorious story), but hasn’t happened yet here. Still, a nod to accessibility isn’t the worst idea once every 90 shows or so.

Thanks if you listen and thanks for reading.

The Obelisk Show airs 5PM Eastern today on the Gimme app or at: http://gimmemetal.com.

Full playlist:

The Obelisk Show – 07.22.22 (VT = voice track)

Acid King	Red River	Middle of Nowhere, Center of Everywhere
Acid King	2 Wheel Nation	III
The Devin Townsend Band	Sunday Afternoon	Accelerated Evolution
YOB	Quantum Mystic	The Unreal Never Lived
VT
Cities of Mars	Towering Graves (Osmos)	Cities of Mars
Torpedo Torpedo	Black Horizon	The Kuiper Belt Mantras
Les Nadie	Del Pombero	Les Nadie
Sasquatch	Save the Day, Ruin the Night	Fever Fantasy
Sleep	Giza Butler	The Sciences
Kyuss	Whitewater	Sky Valley
Nebula	Highwired	Transmission From Mothership Earth
Chat Pile	Slaughterhouse	God’s Country
Obiat	Sea Burial	Indian Ocean
Brujas del Sol	To Die on Planet Earth	Deculter
VT
Yawning Man	Blowhole Sunrise/Space Finger	Live at Giant Rock
Freedom Hawk	Age of the Idiot	Take What You Can

The Obelisk Show on Gimme Metal airs every Friday 5PM Eastern, with replays Sunday at 7PM Eastern. Next new episode is Aug. 5 (subject to change). Thanks for listening if you do.

Gmme Metal website

The Obelisk on Facebook

It was very nearly 13 years ago that Obiat released their Eye Tree Pi (review here), and I’ll be honest, as an entire generation of heavy rock and roll has come up in and around London in no small part thanks to the advent of Desertfest there and the impact of the native scene on export heavy, I’ve wondered more than a few times where the hell Obiat are. Now, it seems, they’re back at last. The band has posted two singles already from their new full-length, Indian Ocean — one was premiered here, you can stream both at the bottom of this post — and when it comes to “Acid Wake,” I’m still plenty content to hear Type O Negative-style riffing with Amorphisian flourish topped by Alice in Chains-style harmonies and a straight-up doomed atmosphere. That’ll do quite nicely until July 4 when Indian Ocean will see its official release.

There are two different versions of the cover art that will be available, I think one for vinyl, one not? Don’t quote me on that, but at this point I’m content to say there’s new Obiat coming. Last year when they hit me up about the single, I was pleasantly surprised there was forward progress at all. Sometimes these things take a while.

From the PR wire:

The new Obiat album ‘Indian Ocean’ out in July 2022

We are OBIAT – UK and Australian based progressive, sludge/doom metal band, brushed with psychedelia and fronted by soulful vocals.

Imagine dark heavy riffs from the likes of Black Sabbath, Pallbearer, Kyuss, Candlemass, AIC… stirred up with Pink Floyd Pompeii atmospherics, brass sections and bamboo flutes. Obiat are HEAVY and mellow, LOUD and quiet.

Our 4th album; “Indian Ocean” is now ready for release (scheduled release date; 04.07.22). Mixed and mastered by Chris Fielding (Conan, Electric Wizard, Napalm Death). So far, the new album has been supported by two singles (‘Sea Burial’ and ‘Acid Wake’) which were premiered during 2021 and are available through most music streaming services.

About us and how we got here;

Obiat is a British band with Polish roots. The band was formed in Szczecin, Poland in 1998 by Rafal ‘Raf’ Reutt and Adam Cichocki before relocating to London in 2000, where they hooked up with Hungarian born singer Laszlo ‘Laz’ Pallagi. The band cut their teeth on the live circuit alongside a plethora of guest musicians who would also go on to contribute to their studio recordings over the years, including Marlene Ribeiro (GNOD) Simon Oakes (Peach, Suns Of The Tundra) Andrew Prestidge (The Osiris Club, 40Watt Sun, Warning, Angel Witch, Winters, SOTT) John Mitchell (It Bites, Arena, Kino, Lonely Robot) – A full list is available on the band’s social media platforms.

OBIAT have had the pleasure of playing all over the UK and Europe through numerous tours and festival appearances, sharing the stage with the likes of Electric Wizard, Orange Goblin, Pelican, My Dying Bride, Voivod and Testament to name just a few.

Three albums have been released to date; Accidentally Making Enemies (2002), Emotionally Driven Disturbulence (2005) and EyeTreePi (2009) which was released on America’s ‘Small Stone Records’, engineered by Chris Fielding, then mixed and mastered by the illustrious Billy Anderson (Melvins, Neurosis, Swans, Sleep, Brutal Truth, Mr Bungle). EyeTreePi saw the addition of Alex Nervo on bass and Neil Dawson on drums/percussion, resulting in what the band say is the core that they’ve been searching for since its inception. All albums are available on Bandcamp, Spotify, YouTube music and many more platforms.

Cover art feat. original painting by Andrew_Prestidge Art, sleeve design by Roland Scriver at Familiar Ink Recorded throughout 2020-2021 in UK and Australia. Mixed and Mastered by Chris Fielding.

OBIAT ‘Indian Ocean’
1. Ulysses
2. Eyes and Soul
3. Acid Wake
4. Nothing Above
5. Sea Burial
6. Ad Meliora
7. Beware The North Star
8. Lightness of Existence

Also featuring;
Sofia DeVille – Vocals (4).
Arek Kasprzak – Bamboo flutes Quenacho and Shakuhachi (1, 3 and 8).
Marta Rakowska – Trombone (2, 4 & 5).
Tomasz Bachorz – Saxophone (2, 4 & 5).
Fumio Takaki – Voice (8).

Obiat:
Alex Nervo – Bass.
Neil Dawson – Drums.
Raf Reutt – Guitars & Keys
Sean Cooper – Vocals & Lyrics

https://www.facebook.com/Obiatband
https://www.instagram.com/_obiat_/
https://obiat.bandcamp.com/

Obiat, “Acid Wake” official video

Obiat, “Sea Burial”

Obiat are currently gearing up for the release later this year of their fourth album, Indian Ocean. It is the band’s first offering since 2009’s Eye Tree Pi (review here), and their first to see founding guitarist Rafal Reutt as the lone remaining original member of the group. Joined by drummer Neil Dawson and bassist Alex Nervo, who played on the last LP, and vocalist Sean Cooper, Reutt would seem to be approaching Indian Ocean with renewed intent, as the initial singles “Sea Burial” (which came out in March) and “Acid Wake” (premiering in the video below) demonstrate.

If the pandemic — maybe you’ve heard something about it? — played a role in Obiat coming back together and Reutt restructuring the band, I have no idea, but they wouldn’t be the first. In truth, it’s been long enough since Eye Tree Pi that Nervo and Cooper could’ve joined anytime in the better part of the last decade and you’d say it was fair enough. One way or the other, the band retains its adventurous sonic spirit, bringing in newer Alice in Chains-style harmonies on “Acid Wake” and the Pallbearer vibes that give way to sax and trombone on the black-metal-meets-jazz surprise apex of “Sea Burial,” all with the backing of a heavy roll that calls to mind some of what Hum brought to bear in their return last year, while maintaining room for arrangement flourishes like the horns or the flute that shows up in “Acid Wake.”

These things fit, it’s important to note, and are more nuance than novelty in how they work alongside the heavier and airier flow conjured by the rest of the band. If Cooper is brand new alongside Reutt and Nervo and Dawson, he doesn’t sound it. Rather, Obiat are cohesive and full in these two tracks in a way that only bodes well for Indian Ocean to come, and while I don’t know the state of the album or the release plans for it when it’s done — I think Chris Fielding (Conan, many others) was finishing the master at Foel — there’s plenty here to consider encouraging.

Quote from the band follows the premiere of the “Acid Wake” video below.

Please enjoy:

Obiat, “Acid Wake” official video premiere

Obiat on “Acid Wake”:

We’re absolutely buzzing to be putting this out and seeing our efforts finally come together over the last 18 months, especially with us not having one live band rehearsal. Sean’s now up front and we’re blown away with what he’s brought to the band/record. We can’t wait to unleash the entire album (Indian Ocean) when it’s ready. We’ve got an array of guests and plenty more riffage and beats to rattle your bones/eardrums.

‘A wreck of broken bones, you sail upon will take you home.’
Official video for ‘Acid Wake’, taken from Obiat’s upcoming album ‘Indian Ocean’ (2021).

Feat. Arek Kasprzak – Bamboo Flutes.

Recorded throughout 2020-2021 in UK and Australia.
Mixed and Mastered by Chris Fielding at Foel Studio in Wales.

Animations by Daniele Arcuri.

Obiat is:
Alex Nervo – Bass
Neil Dawson – Drums
Raf Reutt – Guitars
Sean Cooper – Vocals

Obiat, “Sea Burial”

Obiat on Facebook

Obiat on Bandcamp

I happen to know for a fact The Obelisk is huge in London. Okay, I know no such thing — in fact, I can be fairly certain of the opposite of what I just said — but that doesn’t change the fact that I wrote it on the intertubes and that makes it true. Cross-cultural rockers Obiat (interview, review) are having their CD release party for their third album, Eye Tree Pi, in Foggy London Town with none other than Orange Goblin‘s Ben Ward DJing, and they sent a flier to go with the news. Seems the least I can do to pass it along:

With a truly international lineup involving members from Hungary, Italy, Poland and the UK (where the band as a unit makes its home), semi-psychedelic hard rockers Obiat are bound to cull together a unique bundling of influences. And just as diversity of culture brings different perspectives to other group works, Obiat‘s third album and first for Small Stone, Eye Tree Pi, leans toward post-metal without falling prey what are fast becoming the cliches of the genre, thanks in no small part to the individual elements each member adds to the sound.

Eye Tree Pi is an album that requires more than an immediate impression to go on. There is more to hearing it than just sitting passively and enjoying the sound; it is the process of digging deeper that gives the most satisfaction, and it was in that spirit that I hit up the band for an email interview, for which I was accommodated by vocalist Laz Pallagi and guitarist Raf Reutt. Among the issues discussed is the band’s storied heritage and how they all came to congregate around London and Reading, the making of Eye Tree Pi and how it stands in line with its two predecessors.

Interview is after the jump. Please enjoy.

Read more »