“Dead Planet” by The Obsidian Complex

Approximately one month after the release of their debut EP on February 24th, New Jersey’s The Obsidian Complex have released an instrumental version of “Dead Planet” last Wednesday, on March 30th. This instrumental version showcases the band’s impressive technical abilities and elaborate rhythmic complexities. Check it out HERE.

The Obsidian Complex is a two person project comprised of Adam Kovnat (primarily vocals) and Joshua Aguayo (primarily guitar). Their official catalog goes back as far back as February 16, 2021 with their debut single “Sleeping Giant,” which was followed up by “Voluntary Enslavement” later in 2021, and “Hymns of the Innsmouth” (released January of 2022); all of which you will also find on the EP. My first impressions upon hearing it was that it was Djent oriented, initially reminding me of bands like Darko (US); particularly with the synth/midi placements and insane, complex pulsations. Yet I also felt like I heard influences of more traditional metalcore derivatives like Meshuggah and to a lesser extent, “Unifying Themes Redux” -era Botch (perhaps more so vocally) without the spacey elements or dissonance that tends to come with typical Mathcore; it is rhythmically much tighter and pulled together than that. The Obsidian Complex is definitely worth checking out if you dig that sound. It surely won’t disappoint.

With just the debut release out, the band already amasses 560+ monthly listeners on Spotify, so this is some “fresh off the grill” indie gold to discover. The non-instrumental version of the EP is thematically very dystopian. Topics of disease, the degradation of humanity, and our inevitable “come up-ins” if you will, are recurring themes lyrically as implied by the name of the release. The band has created official lyric videos for “Hymns of Innsmouth,” “Sleeping Giant,” and “Dead Planet” on their YouTube Channel, also very much worth exploring. Embedded below is the official lyric video for “Dead Planet,” which in my opinion is the standout track of the EP:

The production of this project is super slick and professional. The EP was produced, recorded and edited by Joshua Aguayo and Adam Kovnat. Mixing and Mastering was done by Aaron Chaparian at Iron Audio, and the Lyric Video was produced by PJ Mc Tiernan at Hollowed Graphix. Great work by all.