Obscenity was founded in 1989 as a gore metal band. A demo called Age Of Brutality was issued in 1992. It featured a fantasy character on the cover and was recorded in November 1991. Underground Empire called the demo the Best Of The Unsigned. This demo was later re-released by Morbid Records to which the band would sign. West Virginia or WVR signed the band and issued the debut record. The band did not include a bassist at this juncture. Andy Classen, who was attached to the label, produced the record. The album was so successful that the group issued a demo in 1993. It was called Amputated Souls. WVR had vanished in 1993. The band was on the Suffer Tape 3 and Choir Of Solitude 1 samplers in that year. The band appeared on the The Rising Generation and a sampler for Bosnia in 1994. The second record was on a second label. The band opened for Cannibal Corpse, Benediction, Sinister and others. The third record was on a third label. The band had signed with Morbid Records of Berlin in February 1996. The 1999 compilation Demo-Niac: The 10th Anniversary Album featured the early demos. Obscenity pulled out of Sinister's German tour and was replaced by Apophis. Cold Blooded Murder was recorded in Sweden, mastered in the USA and was the goodbye platter of drummer Knust. He would return in 2011. In the meantime, the band had picked up American singer Jeff Rudes. The band was seeking a new guitarist and drummer. Where Sinners Bleed was on a new label as Morbid had gone the way of tobacco advertising. The group's assertion was that it had quit the label. The band released its eighth album Atrophied In Anguish on September 14th through Apostasy Records. It was the band's first record since 2006. Manuel Siewert joined in 2016. The Germany-based death metal band had a new full-length album, entitled Retaliation, scheduled for a May 2018 release through Kolony Records.
The band informed fans that it had a side-project called The Now Noise! Two members also partook in Dew-Scented.
Obscenity album number four has quite a few points worthy of observation. Pure death metal it might be, but for a band formed in 1989 the album title is a tad too juvenile. That aside, more substantially, the band chooses to cover Slayer's Raining Blood. For abacinator's sake, enough is enough. World, stop covering Slayer! The covers are as worthless as Iraqi dinars. Two Slayer tribute albums, covers by every band on the planet and still the beat goes on. Unlike the biography's claim that this band is "the best-known death metal act from Germany" one could correctly point to Fleshcrawl. Still, and the above notwithstanding, Obscenity has improved leaps from its last album, The 3rd Chapter, dumped the K&F (Keyboard & Female vocal syndrome), beefed up its riffs and produced something respectable. The riffs are speed-oriented and the vocals rumble in the depths. The drum sound needs a bit of that certain "oomph" if you wish, coming over as too hollow, but overall most death metal fans into Benediction and Sinister (a perfect example of this is Soulripper) are bound to bang heads at the sound of this. - Ali "The Metallian"
Clever title; senseless release. While it might be a cute idea to celebrate a band's tenth anniversary with the CDification of its two demos (Age of Brutality and Amputated Souls in this case), the fact of the matter is that Morbid, and other companies, should let the underground remain the underground and concentrate on pushing their bands forward. Not that this is even a commercial ploy, for how many copies does one suppose Obscenity can ship of this CD- good sound quality and all. Oh well, I like death metal so I won't be a nag anymore than I must. It is deadly brutal and it can put you in the mood for their impending tour (Europe of course...), so don't let me deter you if you are undecided. - Ali "The Metallian"
I don't remember Obscenity being this good - in fact I am sure they were never this good until now. The singer barks and growls a la Sinister and the musicians annihilate with a definite Cryptopsy-meets-Cannibal Corpse influence. There is some wild drumming happening here - pound, blast, pound,etc. courtesy of new drummer Marc Andree Dieken who propels the band one step forward. Only fault here lies with the mix where the rhythm guitars are under-mixed and often take a back seat to drums and the vocals. Even mastering at Morrisound hasn't helped! The Germans, as a unit, have certainly picked up something from Cryptopsy: deathgrinding with melodic lead work. No doubt about it, Cold Blooded Murder kills.
Obscenity has returned to the scene after a four-year absence with a new album and a new record label. Armageddon is essentially the continuation of the West Virginia label, where the band started before moving to Morbid Records, thus Obscenity has come full circle.