Hard to believe it's been 34+ years since those early death metal classics from legendary act Possessed, but that indeed is how many years have passed since we first got wind of this new, extreme sound heard on Seven Churches and Beyond the Gates. After an EP in 1987, the band disbanded shortly after, and followed by a shooting that left vocalist Jeff Becerra partially paralyzed, it seemed that the career of Possessed would flame out quickly, never to be seen again.
Fast forward to the early 2000s, and Becerra, wheelchair bound but not deterred, put together a reformed Possessed with all new players, and after a few festival appearances and additional line-up changes, a brand new version of the band started writing new material for their third full length studio album in 33 years, which finally was finished in time for a 2019 release. The current line-up of Possessed features Coffin Texts members Emilio Marquez (drums) and Robert Cardenas (bass), Gruesome’s Daniel Gonzalez (guitar) and From Hell’s Claudeous Creamer (guitar), with Becerra of course manning the vocal helm. Revelations of Oblivions is definitely more polished than Seven Churches, more in line with the technical thrash/death metal of Beyond the Gates, and without a doubt worth the long wait. This is a band of extremely capable players, the technical twin guitar riffs and solos weaving and swirling around each other, the rhythms supercharged and pounding, while Becerra's vocals have taken on a Lemmy styled roar, still extreme but you can understand everything he is spewing. While a tune like "Demon" comes across more like doom laden death metal (delightfully so!), most of the tracks are uptempo tech-death/thrash with some absolutely addicting riff-o-rama, as on the glorious "No More Room in Hell", the mind-crushing "Damned", and the rapid fire and slightly catchy "Omen", the longest cut here at just under 7-minutes. And then you have "Ritual"...brutal beyond belief, complete with some of the most devastating riffs on the entire album and piledriving blast beats. Absolutely pulverizing.
Honestly, my expectations weren't all that high before hearing Revelations of Oblivion, but the early buzz was all very positive and the hype turned out to be legit. This is a hell of an album, not only a great death metal album for 2019 but potentially the comeback album of the year. Possessed are back folks!!!
Track Listing
1 - Chant Of Oblivion 1:53
2 - No More Room In Hell 4:48
3 - Dominion 4:25
4 - Damned 5:00
5 - Demon 5:16
6 - Abandoned 5:20
7 - Shadowcult 4:43
8 - Omen 6:41
9 - Ritual 4:47
10 - The Word 5:09
11 - Graven 4:19
12 - Temple Of Samael 1:49
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