Ob (Servant) (Bonus Dvd)

Psycroptic | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 14, 2008)
• Original Release Date: 2008
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Nuclear Blast Americ
• ASIN: B001DZA3R6
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #50,453 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Ob(Servant)

2. A Calculated Effort

3. Slaves of Nil

4. The Shifting Equilibrium

5. Removing The Common Bound

6. Horde in Devolution

7. Blood Stained Lineage

8. Immortal Army Of One

9. Initiate

Disc: 2

1. Bonus DVD - Video Diary "Making of Ob(Servant)"

2. Bonus DVD - Live Footage from Amsterdam 2007

3. Bonus DVD - Live Footage from New Zealand in 2007

Editorial Reviews

Deluxe CD/DVD edition. 2008 album from the Australian Death Metal band includes a bonus DVD that contains live footage plus a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the album. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Caustic Malignant, January 26, 2009

By 

K.I.B. - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ob (Servant) (Bonus Dvd) (Audio CD)

As far as artwork, lyric concepts, and method are concerned, Psycroptic earns serious points for originality. Death metal is overwrought with imagery of, well, death...or Satan...or both. Psycroptic opt to take a more forward-thinking approach on "Ob(Servant)", lacing their futuristic brand of tech-death with images of interplanetary warfare, devolution, aliens, and the failure of humanity in the face of technology gone awry. But then again, this is death metal, so without the lyrics-sheet in front of you...

"Ob(Servant)" is definitely death metal for the 21st century. Even in 2008 bands are still adhering to principles laid out by your Morbid Angels, Immolations, and Cryptopsys, so it is quite refreshing to find a band like Psycroptic taking their own approach to this most extreme form of music.

All the players on board in this band are innovative in their own right. Vocalist Jason Peppiatt does not let his voice stagnate in one mode. He is all over the map with bellied grunts, angry screams, freakish rasps, and everything in between. Often his cadence and enunciation are more reminiscent of recent hardcore than death metal. The drummer is tight and, as is said in many reviews of this band, comes up with some interesting fills. When he does rely on blast beats, it is an interesting high pitched tuning which allows the blast to be part of a transition or flow instead of the basis of the song. And yes, that is only one guitar player you are hearing. Whether or not guitarist Joe Haley has a third hand, I do not know. His frantic playing, which switches endlessly between dominating riffs, muted aural effects, and jazzy free-form sections, miraculously negates the idea that seperate instruments are needed to properly record death metal.

The primary flaw of this album is it's lack of variety. Granted, this is death metal, so a monolithic sound is to be expected. However, when listening to an entire album all the way through becomes tedious rather than adventurous, then you have an album that will never bear intense repeated listens. Death (the band) knew how to make an album that was thorougly technical and brutal but still engaging all the way through. Yes, "Ob(Servant)" has some interesting stand-alone tracks like "Slaves of Nil" and "Blood Stained Lineage", but when the tracks don't stack up to create something consistently appealing, the album can be relegated to backgound music status. This all being said, "Ob(Servant)" is still an immensely fun album to play.

To end this review, I want to say something about the general sound and production on Psycroptic's "Ob(Servant)". Much death metal uses bass and distortion to form a muddled, caustic, and claustraphobic atmosphere to the sound. Incantation (one of the greats) seem to of made this part of their trademark. Psycropitc, however, strive for clarity. The bass is clear, the drums are given space, and the melody is not restricted by a forceful rhythm section. With that in mind, the ground that many death metal bands tread upon is removed with Psycroptic. This effect contributes to the bands uniqueness. Rather than rage against the agony of life on earth, they race violently at lightspeed through the wormholes of eternity looking to evolve rather than decay.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Symphonies of Genius, June 3, 2009

By 

C Hill (CA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ob (Servant) (Bonus Dvd) (Audio CD)

Psycroptic's fourth album is also its most accomplished album to date. Which is saying a lot of a band that puts more creative and performative work into each and every song than most bands put into an entire album.

For anyone looking for death metal that is more complex than your standard "strophe 1- strophe 2- chorus- strophe 3- chorus- chorus"-structured songs, Ob(Servant) is a treat. The danger with technical metal is that it can easily degenerate into silliness, absurdity, and musical unintelligibility. Not so with Psycroptic and this album.

Ob(Servant), like Psycroptic's previous efforts, is delightfully complex and rich, while being extremely listeneable. I like to think of it as Carcass' Necroticism album on steroids. It is powerful, brutal, relentless. Music you can headbang to and jump up and down- as opposed to most technical death metal acts that when performed live force the audience to stand around- or get a beer out of boredom. While some songs may start or end on a slower note, it doesn't take long for things to kick into high gear.

Each song works great as a whole, with plenty of memorable moments. Or they can be heard while focusing only on either the drums or the guitar. One will discover a treasure of musicianship. On a video the band says that they tried to keep things interesting. And they succeeded. For once a drummer makes full use of the drum kit- during every song- and every minute. Every part of it and every cymbal is used. The same is the case with the varied guitar work that thankfully sticks mostly to low notes and gives us one great riff after another. And herein lies the wonder of this album. It has in my opinion unlimited re-listeneability. Everytime one listens to it, one discovers something new, some bit one hasn't noticed before and one is amazed at the skill of the guitarist and drummer.

The vocals work as the rest of the instruments- they also doesn't stick to one pitch but vary in range throughout each song. As fan of death metal I prefer deep growls over higher pitch screams, however, these vocals fit perfectly with the music.

Ordinarily I don't pay attention to lyrics but I was curious to follow along with the vocalist here and what stood out is that these lyrics are interesting. They are Lovecraftian in that they present a vision were humans are insignificant. We are addressed by some timeless beings to whom we mean nothing. Adding to the transcendental nature of the lyrics are sounds and effects that sound like they come from another dimension that act as intros or outros to some songs.

Things start out mercylessly with the song Ob(Servant) an absolute tour-de-force and ends similarly strong with the video-single Initiate. There isn't a single bad or mediocre song here.

The production is near perfect. Music like this doesn't work as a muddled mess of deep distorted noise. Everything is crystal clear so much so that you can easily listen to it with in the car with the windows down, something that can't be said for most death metal albums. I would have liked to be able to hear the bass just a bit more. But on the other hand, I'm content that Psycroptic doesn't fall into the technical death metal trap of letting the bass stand out too much while playing some incongruous melody of its own.

Psycroptic ranks among the truly great death metal bands of all time. They create unique music of very high quality and craft that you cannot confuse with anything else out there. Ob(Servant) is one of the two finest albums of 2008.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Psycroptic Rule., August 9, 2010

By 

Puzzle box "smockey_421" (Kuwait) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ob (Servant) (Bonus Dvd) (Audio CD)

I completely agree with the previous reviewer....this is the best DM album released from Australia and to be released in as long as I can remember; as far as tech-death is concerned I hold the opinion that it is unsurpassed, even by such bench-mark albums as Cryptopsy's None so Vile and even Suffocation's Pierced from Within!! The reason for this is simple and quite sad really(that you cant often say it about more bands in this genre) Psycroptic have taken this over-saturated style of extreme music and twisted it into something quite definitive, distinctive and memorable. The songs on display here are well crafted and mind bogglingly technical, yet they never descend into mere fret-board wankery.

Vocalist Jason Peppiatt gives one hell of a performance, vocals aside though Ob(Servant) is another masterful display of this band's ability to channel their jaw-dropping musicianship into truly memorable strings of riffs, which is what really sets this band apart from the pack. Guitarist Joe Haley's distinctively jerky, stop-start style is still as mesmerizing as it's always been, but this time it sounds like more effort was put into giving the songs continuity. Songs like "Ob(Servant)" and "Immortal Army of One", while still being incredibly complex are thematically held together by some incredibly catchy riffing segments that show a clear progression. You also have songs like "A Calculated Effort" and "Slaves of Nil" which sees Psycroptic venturing into lengthier, more epic territory with similarly impressive results.

While this band has always struggled in the past with maintaining interest throughout the mid-section of the album, they reverse that trend this time around by delivering some of their strongest material during the middle few tracks, particularly the atmospheric song "The Shifting Equilibrium" which has a nice groove and the slightly more subdued, yet no less effective "Horde In Devolution" (which ushers in one of the coolest riffs I've ever heard at the 1:16 mark). brutal, original, dazzling in it's technicality, but never distracting and I can't stop playing it. It rules. Buy it. The bonus dvd was also fantastic, you get one short making of Ob(servant) feature and two awesome live shows from Down Under.