Death Metal is about conveying the energy to brutalize your senses through a barrage of riffs, thunderous beating of drums, and rumbling of bass. Transgressor, the near-cult veteran in Japan’s metal scene, offers that energy with their latest EP, ‘Beyond Oblivion’.
‘Beyond Oblivion’ comes with five songs and starts aggressively with soaring guitar plays assaulting your ears, with chugging riffs and melodic solos while steady drum pounding bulldozes you flat to the ground for 25 minutes. Transgressor’s music arrangements will transport you to the era when Death Metal ruled the world of Extreme Metal. Every twist and turn of each song, interplay with doomy passages, will hook you up and automatically make your head bang to the rhythm. Transgressor takes a break with the fourth song ‘For Nothing’ as it is an instrumental with melancholic acoustic guitar plucking and electric guitar riff and droning… After that intermezzo, the EP continues the original path with the ending track ‘Vision of Carcass’.
Transgressor has released some very good Death Metal songs here. It shows the genuine passion of these veteran Japanese Death Metal heads and their firm grip on their craft. The overall sound of this EP could be better, as for me, the vocals are a bit more upfront than the instrument’s sound, but it didn’t bother me from enjoying this hidden gem. I hope Transgressor will churn out a new full-length album as soon as possible.
