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Oblivion: Resilience
Oblivion - Resilience CD Album Review

Oblivion: Resilience

Heavy/Power Metal
4.0/5.0

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Rock Of Angels Records (ROAR)
Words: Craig Hartranft
Added: 29.01.2018

Hailing from France, Oblivion features three former members of legendary French metal band Nightmare: Jo Amore (v), David Amore (d), and Steff Rabilloud (g). They're joined by six-string bass player Markus Fortunato and extreme metal guitar wizard Flo Lagoutte (Forsaken World). Formed a few years ago, the band has already established itself in the French and European theater via concert and festival appearances. Now Oblivion arrives with their debut studio album Resilience, which also comes with a special live DVD from LeymFest (France) on September 2nd 2017. The DVD stream was not provided so the CD will be considered alone.

Oblivion - Resilience Band Photo

Oblivion

Mostly, we can cut to the chase here. Oblivion plays essentially heavy power metal not far removed from their Nightmare roots, but also the traditional European power metal scene. Stylistically and musically, if anything stands out about the Oblivion power metal sound, it's twin guitar lines which features sharp brisk riffage and an abundance of powerful solos. After this, the next prominent element is simply the speedy power metal pacing. There are moments of moderation, but mostly Resilience is a NASCAR speedway from start to finish. Vocalist Jo Amore sounds, well, like himself: a traditional metal singer with a little rawness mixed with some slight screech and screamo. I found that he seemed muted in the overall mix. Largely, to summarize, Resilience comes down to guitars and a speedy rhythm section. There is some sameness and reduncancy to the songs. But there a few songs with some nuances that deserve mention.

One is In The Arms Of A Queen which has a synth symphonic opening that gets picked up later in the song. Something similar comes with I Thought I Was King which has a opening that sways from mild to bombastic in the orchestration and riffage. A lighter breakdown comes at the three-quarter point, mostly voice with keyboards. In the beginning of Dreamers Believer, there's a strong classic violin-like presence, nearing a folk feeling, before the songs drops into power metal gear. This synth orchestration lingers underneath, only to rise with those violins about two-thirds in. I think this was my favorite song from the album. Alternatively, for straight up power metal there's Evil Spell, Punished By The Crowd, and Honor And Glory. Bottom line: if your looking for some guitar forward European power metal established in the "keep it true" heavy metal tradition, then Oblivion and Resilience deserve your attention and interest. Recommended.



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The Bottom Line

If your looking for some guitar forward European power metal established in the "keep it true" heavy metal tradition, then Oblivion and Resilience deserve your attention and interest. Recommended.

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