A New Era Of Metal With STEFFEN KUMMERER From OBSCURA

Interview by Kris Peters
With their new album A Sonication, Germany-based metal band OBSCURA
launch the second of their trilogy concept. The group’s second
(seventh overall) album for Nuclear Blast pivots on many fronts.
Advanced, elegant yet refreshing, A Sonication sums up past
endeavors effortlessly as it gazes with purpose and conviction into
the future. OBSCURA are fan-renowned and critically acclaimed for
challenging and then expanding upon norms.
From Retribution (2004) through A Valediction (2021), the band
flourished and made significant progress in a musical genre
unprepared for a creative shot of German invention. A Sonication
spearheads OBSCURA into a new era of extreme metal.
Guitarist/vocalist Steffen Kummerer founded Obscura in 2002. Early
on, he set out to improve, redefine, and push forward. Under his
self-label creation, the Bavarian released debut album Retribution
(2004), followed by heavy touring throughout Europe. Word quickly
spread that a brand-new band from the south of Germany was on the
rise. Buzz lead to a deal with U.S.-based Relapse Records. The
first record out was Cosmogenesis. In Europe, Metal Hammer Germany
awarded the album 6/7 while in the U.S. Cosmogenesis hit the
Billboard charts at #71. The cross-continental praise and fevered
momentum landed OBSCURA on high-profile tours in Europe, North
America, and Japan.
When follow-up Omnivium arrived in 2011, they upped their chart
success, received more accolades from publications like Terrorizer,
Rock Hard, and Decibel and had another massive round-world tour
cycle, while enhancing and making progress on their clever
brutality. 
OBSCURA further developed their sound on Akróasis (2016). Moored by
jaw-dropping tracks like Sermon of the Seven Suns, Ode to the Sun,
and the title track, Akróasis elevated OBSCURA to the highest
levels of international renown.
OBSCURA’s most significant accomplishment was, however, just around
the corner. The final part of a tetralogy, Diluvium (2018),
fiercely pursued OBSCURA’s multi-album transformation into musical
innovators and metal powerhouses. Music videos for the title track,
Emergent Evolution and Mortification of the Vulgar Sun, in concert
with a substantial interest in virtuosic, forward-thinking metal,
posited OBSCURA in the good graces (yet again) of the worldwide
press in addition to rocketing up, for the very first time, the
official album charts in Germany. The Germans also topped out at #3
on the Billboard Heatseekers chart with Diluvium.
A turning point in the career of the Germans manifested with the
first release for the biggest independent metal label on the
planet, Nuclear Blast Records. A Valediction granted the band
worldwide success, topping their previous albums in a heartbeat,
and saw the band climbing higher chart positions worldwide. With
epic opening track Forsaken, technical-through the roof Solaris and
the catchy, melodic and yet accessible title track, A Valediction
established the group as an outstanding and energetic live act, to
be proved by their first tour to cover South- and Central America,
aside from touring relentlessly throughout Europe, North America
and Asia.
With the February 7 release date of A Sonication looming, HEAVY sat
down with Steffen Kummerer to find out more.

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