Pest – Tenebris Obortis (2010)

With a very chaotic and gloomy Black Metal sound with Thrash influences, today we have Pest and their fourth full-length release “Tenebris Obortis”. While this release is not highly original, it still has enough elements to make it a very solid release that will find it self lingering in your playlist more than you would have expected.

“Tenebris Obortis” features 10 tracks of solid Black Metal that sometimes feels like a sample platter of sound bits of Gorgoroth, old Dark Throne, Arckanum, etc, but still has enough personality to stand on its own and not get called a recycle band by all the critics and followers of the genre. There are a few ‘weird’ direction shifts between the songs that might put of some people, but for us they actually help this album flow differently and avoid getting dull.

Pest does not focus on creating a nuclear holocaust sound that will make you want to go and kill people, they mostly create a very gloomy and at points depressive atmosphere that will make you want to keep listening to this album and see what’s next. The band does get aggressive with needed and will blast you away, but not for the whole 50 minutes. We think that the band has been maturing and knows when to blast people away, and when to actually play music and create effective songs.

There are countless melodic interludes (like on “Weltgericht” and “Schnee und Eis”) that actually help form the overall atmosphere in a very powerful way, shifting the focus from full-on destruction to a more elaborated dark sound. The use of atmospheric elements like on “Bonded” gives “Tenebris Obortis” several different faces and allows a broader audience to enjoy this release. Pest combines both the ‘raw’ archaic Black Metal approach with different tempo changing elements in a very masterful way, something that only a band with years of experience can achieve.

If you are looking for a powerful Black Metal album that has a ‘low-fi’ sound, quality songs, and brutality, stop looking and get “Tenebris Obortis”. This album has it all for the Black Metal connoisseur.

Release: 2009

Country: Germany