This is the fourth album from Blindfolded and Led to the Woods, a death metal band from New Zealand.
Blindfolded and Led to the Woods play a modern form of death metal that combines progressive, technical, and avant-garde elements together into a savagely impactful package. Rejecting Obliteration is 45 minutes of surprisingly rich extremity.
These songs are dark and intense. Formidable dissonance is matched by straightforward ferocity, blending the two sides into music that’s both impenetrable and accessible. This makes for an enjoyable juxtaposition, in that on the surface of it the music is relatively easy to get on board with, (assuming you are familiar with modern heaviness), but has a lot going on, seething and roiling beneath the surface. In other words, the songs are well-written and have longevity built into them through their intricate depths.
Blindfolded and Led to the Woods lace their heaviness with lots of interesting ideas, allowing the listener to traverse this grim landscape not only bruised and beaten, but also amazed and intrigued. Built on a unyielding bedrock of off-kilter brutality, progressive structures spring up unbidden, allowing for moments of light and shade amongst the hostile pitch black landscape that is the core of the material. Parts of this album are crushingly heavy, like a boulder has fallen on you. Other parts sound as if a nightmare vortex has opened beneath you and is sucking you in. The technicality is sharp, near-constant, and lethal, yet the overall execution is richer than that implies.
For a rough idea of the Rejecting Oblivion experience, think of a mix of Beneath the Massacre, Humanity’s Last Breath, The Red Chord, Ulcerate, and Suffering Hour.
Rejecting Oblivion is not for the faint of heart. However, for those that come well-prepared for Blindfolded and Led to the Woods’ cruel, inhuman world, there are such sights to see here.
Very highly recommended.
Wonderbox Metal 